McGrath, continuing along those lines of 'differentness' I once read that the English have the curious (to USA) habit of saying things like, 'I have been given a truly dreadful haircut' and then turning around and saying, 'There's been a spot of trouble- it seems the train derailed'.

Literal-minded people like me are probably the most likely to misunderstand- and I agree that that is my problem, not yours. However, as in the example you gave above, there will always be the potential for harm and mischief.

Education, education, education... seems like everything always comes down to education. In 'foreign' countries, we carry phrasebooks and dictionaries and books with helpful hints. I suspect we take much less care in English-speaking countries, tending to assume that there will be no difficulty in negotiating one's way. Ironically, because of the similarity of language, there is probably greater danger of offending our hosts in this case than we do in countries with different languages where, on both sides, more slack is cut.

Ebbie