Just our Lidl joke

Spectator, The, Sep 20, 2008

Sir: Dot Wordsworth wonders (Mind your language, 13 September) why foreign restaurants don't consult a native speaker before publishing a menu in English. I have the same question about The Spectator and attempted puns in German. Jonathan Burge (Letters, 13 September) ends with the battle cry 'Vorvarts Lidl!' Whoops! Sind Sie doof, oder was? The correct spelling is 'vorwärts' meaning 'forwards'.

Sadly that's not all: for anyone who speaks German your little/Lidl wordplay doesn't quite work as the retailer's name is pronounced 'leedle', as in Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It is only in the UK that everyone mispronounces it.

Gareth Walters Southborough, Kent