......It wasn't until I was in my forties that I remembered at least three specific instances from childhood of this sort of thing happening to me.......         Andrew Brown

Hmmm........Very interesting but anti-intuitive.

This phenomenon is still unexplained and worthy of investigation.  Gwendolen's explanation - "I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade." - is not the last word on the subject, as she well knew.

-Sandy Drescher

Dear Sandy,

As a devotée of the divine Earnest I caught your reference at one - - however I must admit that I don't get your point. Gwendoline was responding to Dear Cecilie's claim that when she saw a spade she called it a spade - - in other words Cecilie was explaining that she felt entitled to criticize Gwendoline, her guest.

In what way is Gwendoline's clever riposte an "explanation"? an explanation of what? Could you spell it out for me? I don't know if I'm too stupid or too innocent to understand.

Carolyn