Her Majesty Displeasured?

I misunderstood another headline the other day. I spotted it on Ceefax, it was along the lines of 'Clinton makes Queen's Birthday gaffe'. Obviously, I immediately assumed that this had something to do with former US President Bill Clinton, perhaps referring to some new revelation about his administration. I had vision's of Bill leaping, naked, from a giant cake during Her Majesty's birthday celebrations, shouting "Let's see you crown this, Lizzie", in the mistaken belief that this was the sort of 'birthday surprise' deemed appropriate for a monarch. Maybe, I pondered, he used his fabled member to bestow a 'knighthood' on various female guests, inviting them to kiss his 'purple orb'.

As usual, of course, I turned out to be quite mistaken. When I actually read the story, it turned out to concern Bill's wife, current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sending a birthday greeting to the Queen a week early. Which isn't really much of a gaffe. In fact is isn't a gaffe at all. My mother's birthday card always arrives a couple of days before my birthday. I don't accuse her of making a gaffe. She merely has little faith in the Royal Mail's First Class postage, so posts it early. Now, if Clinton had sent the Queen one of those 'humourous', mildly offensive birthday cards, calling her an old fart, or something, then maybe that could be classed as a 'gaffe'. They really should make these headlines less ambiguous - it only results in me being deeply disappointed.