22 DECEMBER 1944, Page 4

There is going to be trouble about " spitchered." The

author of the recently published official booklet on Malta says the word is RA.F. slang, and denotes anything completely smashed up ; it is even added that it comes from the Maltese word " spiccha." But a naval captain writes that the word was in common use when he was a midshipman in r9o5, and it had probably been going some time 1 then. As a professional pursuer and tracker-down of derivations I should like to know more of this.

Jams.