Just spent a lovely couple of days in Bam, Iran. Over about a million cups of tea I made the acquaintance of a local guy who speaks pretty good beginner’s English. He keeps a notebook in which he records interesting phrases of English that he hears in movies and from people like me. He was showing me through the notebook and pointed to something from a film.

“This one, ‘She’s something’, is a way of saying that the girl is attractive, yes?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s right. Although it’s fairly American and you wouldn’t really hear it in Australia,” I told him.

“What would you say in Australia?”

“Tap.”