Madam, - A handwritten sign greeted me last Sunday when I stopped to refuel at a petrol station in Naas, Co Kildare. It read: "HELLO! - this is a diesel pump". Sadly, it seems that this crude, rising-inflection, US-style catcall has crossed the language gene-gap into print here in Ireland.
A case of simpler manners taking another nosedive? I won't be stopping there again. - Yours, etc,
ROBERT CORKY, Glenageary, Co Dublin.