Q. My cousin and her husband recently went to a dinner party. When they compared notes later, it emerged that the husband had seen the cat before dinner with its paw and tongue in the butter dish, which was then placed on the table, and the wife had seen the cat sitting in the bowl of fresh salad which was also then served. How could they have warned each other and the other guests without offending the hostess, who adores her cats?
E.S., London W11
A. Should this happen again it would be advisable for the witness to affect to sneeze over the dishes in question. He/she could then announce, ‘I’m so sorry. I absolutely insist on being allowed to rewash the salad and scrape a few centimetres off the butter all the way round. You can never be too careful.’
Q.
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