Tinternet

The following happened while I was staying with friends in Edinburgh:

"Can I use your computer to check something on the internet?" I asked politely.

"Tinternet! Tinternet!" said Keith and Lesley — in unison — while waving their fingers at me.

I just looked at them. They grinned back. "Tinternet?" I asked hesitantly.

"Tinternet! Tinternet!" they said again — in unison — air typing all the while.

"Sorry, what are you on about?" I hate it when I'm not in on the joke. Hate it!

"It's a line from Peter Kay. He's from Bolton, and he says 't'internet' instead of 'the internet'."

"Oh," I said. "T'internet."

"That's right," they both said encouragingly.

To give you an idea of what comedian Peter Kay's northern accent is like, here he is talking about the problem of dunking Rich Tea biscuits in tea — or in "yer brew", as he would say.

Isn't tinternet amazing?