”Meanwhile, The Wop had discovered that the piper and violinist on either side of him were not, as he had suspected, Bearded Wristy Intellectuals, but, respectively, a plumber and a builder who happened to have been brought up to play pipes and violins as well.

—Are the beards compulsory? he asked the piper, with his regulation aggressiveness.

—They pretty well are for touring in Germany, the piper replied, unoffended. —You into this archaeology too?

—No, fuck, replied The Wop, mistakenly aligning himself to the assumed mindset of an English plumber in an English pub.

—No? Oh. Jesus, I think it’s great stuff. Always used to love chatting to Harry about it. Nothing like a bit of education to improve the evening.

—Oh, said The Wop. Then he fell silent, hopelessly confused by this representative of a non-anti-intellectual blokedom.”

From James Hawes’ novel Dead Long Enough (2001: 113)