Unusually among ancient scholars, I can read perfectly without
spectacles, but I fear I am getting a little hard of hearing in my
dotage. The other day a table-companion made reference to what I later
understood to be an "Irish news reader"; but I heard it as an "Irish
mule breeder"; which resulted in a somewhat surreal conversation, as
we spoke entirely at cross purposes.
Then, yesterday, listening to a colleague preach a sermon about St
Patrick, I made a somewhat similar mistake. He actually said that on
Croag Patrick the saint had only a cave in which to shelter "from the
elements", but I thought he said "from the elephants", and the rest of
the sermon was lost to me as I wondered how in the world the elephants
had got up Croag Patrick, and if he had got rid of them along with the
snakes.
Have the infirmities of other list-members led them to any ludicrous
misunderstandings?
The Supple Doctor.
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