31 AUGUST 1991, Page 20

Breaking words

Sir: Michael Lewis's Anglophobic article of 17 August is all old hat. But the efforts of your compositor with his hyphens make the article a joy to des-cribe.

Shop-ped is clearly a bicycle with a large basket to take to the supermarket.

Am-ericans are people in love with Erica (whoever she may be).

Vi-sit is ambiguous. Is it a brothel where Vi is waiting, or a bed-sit with a video?

But Tennes-see eludes me. It must be a German lake or an obscure diocese, neither of which has come to my notice.

T. N. Gee

4 Guildford Place, London WC2