I was looking through my “Book of Insults” for inspiration for a letter I was writing to the press. There was one about Italians that reminded me of an incident when I worked in the semiconductor industry..
Jean-Pierre (who was French, you’ll be surprised to know) and Alec were involved in a car accident in France. J-P was done up like a mummy and could hardly move and Alec had a broken leg and was keen to move on. The nurse came around with the thermometer to take temperatures. Alec whipped thermometer out of her hand and stuck it in his mouth. He noticed at this moment the “mummy” had come to life and looked very agitated.
The slight against the Italians was “Why are rectal thermometers banned in Italy? It was found that they did too much brain damage!
Alec survived the ordeal and so did J-P and he liked to tell the story