Bong

[webofevil]

Lord Anderson had come up to check his speech on Bosnia. This is to his credit, as most of them don’t bother.

“Are we sure how to spell Republika Srpska?” he asked my colleague, who didn’t have the faintest idea and had in fact thought it was an acronym. So I told him.

“How about Srebrenica?” he said. I told him again.

“Ah,” he twinkled, and too late I realised he had decided this was a challenge for the office smart-arse. “It's my job to know this stuff!” I wanted to yell, but too late; the noble Lord had come up with—he thought—a cracker.

“Banja Luka?” he proffered, as if this was the question that would decide whether I won a car. Like a performing monkey, I spelt it for him.

“L, U, C, A,” he corrected gently.

“Really?” I said uncertainly, and immediately started Googling to check.

“Ha ha! BONGGG!” he said jovially, and left.

If it was spelt “LUCA” it would be pronounced “Lootsa”, which it isn’t. BONG yourself, my Lord.