Suspended sentence for the words that failed the tests

The Oxford English Dictionary has revealed that it keeps a secret vault of thousands of words which have failed to make the grade. They include: furging, which is the act of reaching into your pocket for loose change; wurfing, meaning to surf the internet at work; and noversation, meaning a pointless chat. A selection of the words was released by the OED to a student for his research into a college project. Other failed expressions include earworm, for a tune that gets stuck in your head, and sprogging, to mean running slower than a sprint but faster than a jog. A senior editor at the OED said that some of the words had been submitted as far back as 1914, but added that there was still hope for all of them. She said: "I don't like calling them reject words because we will revisit them at some point and they may well go in."

After holding up a fast food restaurant, a robber later telephoned to complain about the size of his haul. Atlanta police say the Wendy's restaurant was held up by a man with a gun, who ordered staff to empty the till. Several hours later, officers claim he called to say: "Next time, there better be more than US$586."

The parents of a four-year-old called Adolf Hitler, who was placed in foster care by child welfare services in New Jersey, have lost their appeal to regain custody of their children. The authorities had also removed his two sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie, after allegations of child abuse. Attention was drawn to the boy's name after his parents, Heath and Deborah Campbell, asked a local supermarket bakery to write it on his birthday cake. Defending the choice, his mother said: "It's not like he's growing up to be a killer or nothing like that." A three-judge panel decided this week that there was enough evidence of abuse and neglect to refuse the custody appeal.

Growing numbers of pilgrims heading for the shrine at Lourdes in France are instead turning up at a tiny French village because they misspell the address in their GPS navigation systems. Villagers at Lourde, which has a population of 94, say they spend an increasing amount of time redirecting the faithful to the shrine, which is 90km away. Others do not realise they are in the wrong place, lighting candles and searching in vain for souvenir shops.

An American school bus has reached a top speed of 590kph after being fitted with an engine from a fighter jet. Paul Stender, from Indianapolis, has called the vehicle the "School Time Jet-Powered School Bush". The traditional yellow bus has been strengthen to prevent from disintegrating when the Phantom fighter engine reaches full power. Mr Stender, 43, said: "I guess this is my revenge for all those days riding on the slow journey to school, now it goes at my kind of pace."

The hunt is on for Tokyo's oldest woman after officials discovered she had not been seen for half a century. After contacting relatives of Fusa Furuya, who was thought to be 113, her daughter claimed she had not seen her mother for about 50 years. Last week an attempt to contact the city's oldest man failed after it was discovered he had been lying dead at home for 30 years.

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