8 MAY 2004, Page 33

Mixed-up lingo

From J.M.E. Took Sir: Paul Johnson (And another thing, 17 April) has got his lingo mixed up. *Go and take a shufti' belonged to the army in Egypt, never in India, where one went and 'had a dekko'. The former is Arabic, the latter Hindi.

J.M.E. Took

Appledore, Kent