Approximately 2 to 3 times per week, I read a story about Sri Lanka's "Tamil Tigers" rebel group*. One would assume this would give me a sort of reflexive familiarity with seeing "Tigers" in headlines in this context. It doesn't. Every time - and again, this is 2 to 3 times a week - I have a second or two of bonehead confusion, thinking the headline refers to tigers of the feline, as opposed to guerrilla, variety. "'Tigers Set Peace Talk Demands'? What now?" "'Police Raid Tiger Headquarters'? Huh?" "'Free Child Soldiers, Tigers Told'?" Every time. Every time.

*one of the more tedious conditions I suffer from is an irresistible compulsion to read the entirety of the BBC's world news section each day; often this means reading articles of explosively stultifying banality (not in the case of the Tigers, however)