Speaking of new technology, our Editor-in-Chief has become addicted to electronic games after being given a Nintendo DS by Someone-Who-Should-Have-Known-Better for Christmas.


"It's ok," she said, "I'm not playing any of them there shoot-'em-ups. It's crosswords and word searches and anagrams and vaguely cerebral activities like that."

We nodded and said, "Mmmmmmm, right."

"Honest," she said. "And one of these little doobries that slips into the back of this red machine is called Brain Training. You know, the stuff that Ant and Dec advertise on TV."

"Who?" we said.

"Ant and... never mind. Anyway," she said, "it seems my brain is only 26 years old..."

"But you're at least..."

"I know," she said, "but don't tell everybody. Promise?"

We promised.*

"And here's a funny thing," she said. "About the anagrams," she said. "It won't allow me to have words like 'ass' and 'rape'. Know why?"

"It's an American thing," we said, "and Americans have a tendency to get all prissy about words that might be interpreted as vaguely smutty. They are also a bit prissy about Janet Jackson's breasts."

"Exactly!" she said. "Aren't Americans strange? They give us Quentin Tarantino movies and object to a perfectly proper word like 'ass'... and Janet Jackson's breast."

"You ain't whistlin' Dixie," said our American colleague. "Maybe we might could tell American contributors that we're not offended by an occasional risque little word here or there, especially as they started out being English and having perfectly sensible meanings? But let's leave JJ's breast out of it, ok?"

"That's a good idea," said our Editor-in-Chief. "Do you think we've told everybody now?"

"Lawks a lawdy, I sho' do reckon so, honeychile, honeylamb," said our personal little Scarlet O'Hara.

*(51, by the way!)