I'll tell you an interesting story about David Beckham breaking his foot because it has something to do with learning a language.

Is it possible for millions of people not to know a word one day, but all of them know it and understand it the next? The answer is yes and this brings me back to Beckham. As I said in an earlier post DB broke a bone in his foot about 6 weeks before the start of the 2002 World Cup. This was devastating for the England team - Beckham at the peak of his career and captain of his country.

This casued a media frenzy similar to what is now happening with Yao in China. On the front page of every news paper was a picture of Beckham's foot with a detailed description of the injury. Literally overnight people started talking about Beckham's broken metatarsal. So metatarsal is the medical name for the bone on the top of the foot - not a very common word and certainly not one which the general public will use.

But there it was unknown and barely used apart from by doctors one day and then on the tip of everybody's tongue the next!