This story’s from the olden days, when a two-second time lapse on the telephone was state-of-the-art. Whenever Claire from America telephoned her friend in Australia there was about a two-second time lapse. That’s the time it takes for all those jingly-janglies, or whatever they are, to run along the wire. Anyway, there was a time lapse.
“It’s Claire!” said Claire.
“Claire!” her friend replied.
“Claire!” said Claire.
“That’s wonderful!” her friend replied.
But Claire had already said, “My mother died.”
And all she heard in response was her friend say, “That’s wonderful!”
It was one of those misunderstandings that was never cleared up.