'In the last two years the sale of fruit and vegetable plants has trebled," says Tim (Godwin). "Food is the real in-thing ... and we are selling out-of-seed potatoes before it is even the right time to plant them.' - Caroline McGhie, writing in the Telegraph Property section last weekend
Well, I suppose it's too much to expect a property journalist to spot the rather odd hyphenation error in her copy - as even the horticulturalists get it wrong, as I report elsewhere!
I've heard of 'gone to seed', but never 'out of seed'. What the speaker meant, of course, was [selling out] of [seed potatoes].
Just a quick proofing would have revealed that the sentence as it stands is rubbish. But why bother with such lowly tasks when you have a spellchecker?
Related link: Telegraph online article
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