A Frenchman, a German and an Englishman were arguing about which of their respective languages was the best.

The Frenchman said, `French is the language of romance, the most beautiful language in the world."

The German said, `German is the language of science and technology, the language most fitted to the needs of the twentieth century.'

And the Englishman said, `Nonsense! There's only one decent language, and that's English.

We English say what we mean - no messing about. Take this for instance.' He held up a light-bulb.

`You Frenchmen call it an ampoule. And you Germans call it a gluhbirne.

We in England simply call it a light- bulb, which, after all, is precisely what it is.'