<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Dearest Droolers.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Most of the time the UK and the US share a language, but occasionally things fall apart in translation - much like when my father visited the US for the first time in the Seventies. When asked if there was anything he required, he replied it would be nice to be given a cigarette, except he used the English slang of the time "I'd love to bum a fag". As you can imagine there was some confusion and red faces all round.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Likewise when I wrote that I would "bite the hand off" a suitable basset home offering to rehome a bonded pair, this is English slang for "I would be thrilled a rare thing was being offered and extremely keen to accept it".</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Sally, who has had a couple of amusing emails today, and Hettie, who is rolling her eyes.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div></div></body></html>