A shocking literal-mindedness among the hoi-polloi
This, from BBC Online, is fun:
French fatigue over Da Vinci Code
The announcement this week from Hollywood that Tom Hanks will star in the film adaptation of Dan Brown's thriller The Da Vinci Code may have excited the book's millions of fans around the world. But in France, there was a collective sinking of hearts.
“The English journalist stood outside the church of St Sulpice, her heart pounding.
It was dusk and if memory served her well, it was just 20m up the 200 steps into the darkened nave.
That number had been precisely counted by the church's medieval architect to chime in with the ritual of the pagan goddess once worshipped on this site until the elders of the Christian Church claimed it as their own.
Her footsteps echoed on the cold flagstones.
Inside, the elderly Frenchman who went by the name of Monsieur Michel Rouge would be waiting for her. She sensed it might be a difficult encounter.”