“Bread with bread, the food of idiots:” Bakers object to proverb and call for its removal from Spanish dictionary

A petition via the website ElPanNoEsComidaDeTontos.com says keeping the traditional expression in the official monolingual dictionary of the Spanish language 'devalues the baking profession', and have written to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the Cervantes Institute, responsible for language standardisation in the same way as the Oxford English Dictionary, calling for them to amend the text.

Alongside the defintion for pan, or 'bread', one of the contexts for its use in popular language reads: “Pan con pan, comida de tontos,” or “bread with bread, the food of idiots.”

Whilst bakers say the RAE and the Cervantes Institute 'have a responsibility to the public' in terms of 'promoting correct use of the Spanish language', a spokesman from the RAE has replied that, 'as is normally the case' when these controversies arise, the organisation 'does not pass judgment' on the social sensitivity or otherwise of a recognised definition or context of a given word.

But the bakers will not be put off, and plan to travel the length and breadth of the country to raise awareness of their campaign.

The petition, which will close on Thursday this week (May 25) and be handed in the following day, has already netted over 4,000 signatures including those of magician and comedian Luis Piedrahita and TV presenter Tania Llasera.

This is not the first time an association has campaigned for the RAE to change a dictionary definition – one of the many recent requests was from parents of autistic children, who said many families in their situation were 'distraught' to see how the description of 'autism' in the dictionary included references to the child being 'incapable of feeling or showing love or affection', and which is not believed to be a typical feature of the condition.