Discovering that laughter helps boost the immune system and get our natural killer cells in motion has meant that I have been spending some time looking through the funny books that I have in my library. Has anybody read Richard Lederer’s “Anguished English” series? Well, if not, then off you go to the library or bookstore to get yourself a copy. You won’t regret it. I was just skimming through Lederer’s Fractured English, when I came upon the chapter devoted to English abroad. Since I used to translate from Italian to English and vice versa (still do, on occasion), I picked an example Lederer took from the brochure of an Italian hotel in the Dolomites area: Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers stupendous revelations. There is a French widow in every room. We can offer you a commodious chamber, with balcony imminent to a romantic gorge. We hope you want to drop in. In the close village you can buy jolly memorials for when you pass away.

I always read hotel room instructions. I found a brilliant one in a hotel in Milan: in case of fire, please warm the manager. 🙂