Straightened-Out Croissants and the Decline of Civilization

International breakfast circles were roiled, as the Times might write, by the news last week that Tesco, the British supermarket chain, had decided to stop selling croissants that are shaped like croissants. Actually, the company announced that it would no longer be selling "curved croissants," but, given that "croissant" means crescent, this wording was, to the linguistically alert, a bit self-cancelling: if it isn't curved, it isn't a croissant at all. In fairness, the word in English has migr...