Many thanks to Robin Dormer and Edwin Herskovic, who surprisingly were the only two readers actually to write to the editor to correct our recent French spelling and grammar mistakes (see [2005] Gazette, 1 December, 10). Of course the French language is masculine, and therefore should be le francais. (Will anyone buy the excuse that we were thinking of la langue francaise? No, thought not.) Likewise, we accept that the vernacular expression dis-donc should not be spelt dit-donc, although there appears to be general confusion on that point. When the errors were drawn to his attention, the Gazette editor - that's redacteur en chef, by the way - was tempted to give a Gallic shrug and mutter tant pis. But then it was pointed out that the position was all the more embarrassing considering the editor had spent a year at the Sorbonne in a 'Zero de conduite'-style environment where grammar and spelling were hammered home with a large mallet by teachers who all bore a striking resemblance to Gerard Depardieu. In the end, the editor's only defence is that many years have subsequently passed sous le pont...