Sideswipe: July 4: Big night out after the rugby for this guy

Words the royal family do not use

Lounge: British folks usually refer to the front room of the house where a family gathers for down time as the living room or lounge. The royal family won't call it that, though. The proper name for this space is the drawing room.

Refreshments: Refreshments is another no-no in the royal vocabulary. Refreshments are served at working-class and middle-class events — not to the upper classes. The royal family would refer to light snacks as food and drink.

Portion: When speaking about an amount of food to consume, members of the royal family don't use the word portion, but instead ask for a smaller or larger helping size — another posh turn of phrase.

Pardon: Perhaps due to centuries of people approaching them for a "royal pardon", which was historically forgiveness for a heinous crime of some sort, the royals now can't abide hearing the word pardon when someone is excusing themselves. No "pardon me" or "beg your pardon" — just "sorry" will do.

Poor man must be very busy!

Found in my late mother-in-law's papers.

How to lose a friend

"Was a policeman's wife for twenty years. When you divorce you not only lose your cop family, you evidently lose your best friend who is married to a cop. I learned a valuable lesson. Friendships built on a common thread last only as long as that thread remains. Heartbreaking.

"I opened up to him about my mental health issues, and after a day or two he messaged me saying he couldn't have that kind of negativity in his life. This was literally the first and only time I told anyone about it.

"They don't contact me at all unless I go out of my way to contact them first. They find any reason to not hang out. They claim we're good friends but it just feels like they just want to be able to say that I'm a friend without doing anything to *be* a friend.

"When I realized that everything I did for them, they totally took for granted and advantage of most of the time. Like going out to eat I would usually pay because I used to make more then her but when she got a better job she still expected me to pay all the time. Nope."

"They never paid me back the concert tickets I bought for them."