I was lucky enough to be one of the cellists invited to take part in the Piatigorsky Seminar. I was told to take my bow with me to L.A. while a cello (which would otherwise cost another air ticket) would be lent to me by a benevolent collector. I somehow survived the flight - I am terribly afraid of flying and this was the first time I had travelled such a long distance - and also my first flight across the Atlantic. Landing finally in L. A., everything was so different and so amazing that I felt like I had arrived on Mars.  One of the organisers was waiting for me at the airport and informed me that we were going to pick up the cello immediately. By then I was already quite tired and jet-lagged after a 20-hour journey and all those in-flight vodkas... Dressed in jeans and T-shirt and feeling quite exhausted, I was driven directly to the villa in Beverly Hills where I was to borrow the cello. There was a party going on, the waiters were waiting outside by the pool with the champagne glasses... - I had never seen anything like it before and my feeling of being on another planet became even stronger. After I got over the initial shock, I was invited to enter the safe room. There was an array of valuable instruments and the kind owner asked me whether I would like to try one of his cellos.  He proferred me an instrument which he referred to as a "Strad",  -  I  had not heard this name before.  I did not feel at all like playing the cello, but I was finally forced to do so - on a small stage for those fine, well-dressed guests. After my terribly painful attempts they asked my opinion of the instrument. Frankly, I found it extremely difficult to make it sound good, but to be polite, I answered - it is not too bad. The public loved my witty answer. A few days later a cellist ran up to me shouting - I have heard that you played the Stradivarius the other day. At first I denied it, then I finally understood that Strad is the accepted abbreviation for Stradivarius and that the disobedient cello I had been struggling with on that party occasion was actually a genuine Stradivarius!
I guess it was about time to learn this basic expression, to avoid more such faux pas!

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