Words: intern, n.

WHEN ASKED for Frank Sinatra, a greasy-faced HMV assistant grunted "under F in Rock & Pop" rather than S and Easy Listening (some Sinatra is desolate). Remonstration to the manager revealed that this churl "is on a work-experience week, we usually keep him out of sight in the basement".

President Clinton must wish that Monica Lewinsky had been so kept. His problem is not ours, which is a replacement for the cumbersome work experience (which prompts no noun). Ms Lewinsky was an intern. To English ears, this suggests a stretch in the Maze. Intern's orgins is in matters educational rather than merely offering more of the same. Meanwhile, work experience does not figure in the OED. Perhaps when it does, it will be with the abbreviation Obs.