Oooh. Good point. Without meaning to, I may indeed have nicked Mr Bollinger's nickname ...

I've also seen his wife Helen referred to as HelBol. Maybe this is just in the media, I don't know - I don't have any personal knowledge.

Mr Brown,

Surely you wouldn't want to take Alun Bollinger's nickname and assign it to Alan Bollard without some sort of acknowledgement?

"AlBol" (number of ells presumably negotiable), for those who missed the end of Media 7.

That bugger Shakespere eh?

Routinely used the ass/arse pronunciation pun for a laugh-

Oooh, interesting. I suppose I'm too late but I'd love to see some evidence if you have it.

Oh, for heaven's sake... You're not one of those gits who writes to the Listener about the faulty (ie non British) pronunciation on National Radio, are you?

No, but now that I know how much it annoys you I might start.

Well, I'm glad it moved you to register to post

Nice to be here. Hardly a graceful entrance, but I'm sure there will be more positive (and more serious) posts to come.

but in an American context, I think "ass" is appropriate

Aha, the deliberate Americanism. It takes on a whole new light.

"Arse", Mister Brown; we're not Americans.

I'm fairly sure you don't mean to refer to Apple being too far up its own donkey, vivid though the image is.