15 JULY 2000, Page 27

Rafish description

From Mr David Watkins Sir: It seems that Dot Wordsworth (Mind your language, 8 July) is younger than I unthinkingly assumed, else she would have immediately picked up the New Oxford Dic- tionary's hint about 'pear-shaped' being RAF slang. The phrase is very clear to any- one who has witnessed the death throes of a punctured barrage-balloon.

David Watkins Mortimer Road, Cardiff