Under the Geneva Convention, a prisoner of war is not obliged to divulge his real name because name-spells could be used against him!
Matuchek's false name:
"...Sherrinford Mycroft, Captain, AUS..." (p. 28)
- returns us to familiar Holmesian territory. Googling reveals that "AUS" can mean "Army of the United States" or "Are You Serious?"
Vampires are 4-F. (p. 31)
"...while the Prophet forbade wine, he said nothing about beer, gin, whisky, brandy, rum, or akvavit." (ibid.)
Religious rules are endlessly re-interpretable, of course. Not working on Saturdays has been interpreted to mean not playing on Sundays.
I am out of here. I wanted to get up to ten posts for today earlier but various other responsibilities intervened. It looks like Steve Matuchek will keep us happy for a long time yet.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
That bit you quoted about Mohammed not forbidding, beer, gin, whisky, etc., now makes me wonder if there are actually who argue like that alcoholic drinks other than wines are permissible! But I can't think of any.
Ad astra! Sean
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