YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
Q. The term 'Cheers' (Your problems solved, 5 February) was disparaged in Nancy Mitford's original `U and Non-U' article in Encounter. This provoked a letter to the editor from a correspondent who had been carrying out his own research at the bar of the Guards Club and found that whereas before the publication of the arti- cle subalterns when drinking had said `Cheers' they now said 'Cheers' and added a reference to Miss Mitford.
M.H., The Diogenes Club, London SW1 A. Thnk you for your comment.
Q. I have a rather bullying neighbour whose company I nevertheless enjoy. When she drops in to see me she very much enjoys a stiff drink yet always says she doesn't want to drink alone and refuses to accept one unless I join her. My social life is much more active than hers and I prefer to restrict my drinking to tense-making occa- sions and give my liver a rest when in my
Dear Mary.. .
own home with a member of my own sex. How can I avoid feeling like a spoilsport?
Q.L., W1 A. Keep 'two measures' of water in the bot- tom of a vodka or gin bottle. Splash these into a glass with some tonic for yourself and give your neighbour whatever she wants.
Q. As a diplomat I often find myself sitting at the dinner table opposite loquacious for- eigners who, in their loud and animated efforts to impress me with their command
of English, inadvertently spit out a morsel of food on to my plate. How can I abstain from eating the rest of my food and the offending morsel, the precise location of which is usually impossible to ascertain without very close examination and much probing with my fork? I am too cowardly to eat the morsel, especially when the spitter is exceptionally unattractive.
H.H-T., British Embassy, address withheld A. The correct procedure in these scenarios is quickly to tip your glass of wine into your food as though by accident. You may then wait for staff to replace the fare or pretend you have had enough anyway and toy with some bread till your co-diners have com- pleted their own ingestion.
Mary Killen
If you have a problem, please write to Mary Killen, do The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London, WC1N 2LL.
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