This is a dialogue between townspeople, from the conclusion of _Pudd'nhead Wilson_: >"And this is the man the likes of us have called >a pudd'nhead for more than twenty years. He has resigned from that >position, friends." >"Yes, but it isn't vacant--we're elected." I wonder why they use words like "resign," "position" and "elect" here. Is it a pun on "President" Wilson? Because English, which I teach in Japan, is not my mother tongue, I sometimes have this kind of difficulty in understanding jokes. I'm in no hurry and hope someone will post an answer sometime. Ryota Iijima Assistant Professor Fukushima University mailto:[log in to unmask] http://www2.educ.fukushima-u.ac.jp/~ryota/