Sinister: shorten any word that's too long!!

[Mark Hester]

Lorraine, there's nothing ludicrous about 'ambulance'.  It originally 
referred to a stretcher used to carry wounded soldiers who had "Fought in a 
War" (had to get the reference in there somewhere).  As the stretcher 
bearers were walking they were ambulatory, hence 'ambulance'.  So the German 
is obvious and the English is interesting.  So there!

I think my fave long German word is Strassenbahnhaltestelle, meaning tram 
stop.  I remember a cartoon in my German textbook that had a bank robber 
(complete with bagful of cash, stripey jumper and mask, natch) approaching a 
trembling old lady and asking "Wie komme ich am besten zur
Strassenbahnhaltestelle?"  The German language direclt affects their crime 
rate.

Rob Brennan, is there really a venue in Portsmouth called the Wedgewood 
Rooms?  This conjures up wonderful images of people too afraid to dance or 
get too drunk for fear of smashing all the china.  Who knows, maybe Pompey 
residents talk about a "mosher in the Wedgewood rooms" rather than a bull in 
a china shop.
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