>I know you were talking to Metin about the hooch, but replying to Mike. I thought last thing he needs is your discussing a drink he's probably never had whilst congratulating him on (possibly - who knows?) getting on the waggon.

The raki - rakija - brandy (in Turkish, Serbian and English) is a nasty thing, and you don't want to drink one made by someone you don't know personally. I still have a few bottles of my father's excellent moonshine, and they are gathering dust somewhere in the corner.

>BTW In England we call it "physiotherapy", just as the "gas man" in an operation is the "anaesthetist" as opposed to the US "anasthaesiologist" (sp?)

In Serbian, "anestetičar" and "anesteziolog" would be completely different things: one is the guys who does Anastasia, and the other theorises about it.

This slapping of additional suffixes seems to be quite common here. We say "cinizam", and it's "cynicism" here. Go figure.