I love when cranky people write in to the newspaper about trivial things so much. This had me chortling over my toast this morning:

• “Goes extinct?” (Salish Sea orca population on brink, 25 November). Since when did this become the normal way to talk about extinction? Is this some Americanism that has become acceptable worldwide? I come across this again and again in the Guardian Weekly and it really grates on my nerves. Extinction isn’t a place that organisms go to or have gone to. Organisms become extinct.
Monique Gallwey
Saint Louis, France