Bewilderment ensued today when a man with a distinct Manchester lilt in his voice walked into a pub in Sedgely, West Midlands and ordered a "pint of lager and a coke."
"Half a bitter and a what?" the barmaid responded with a deep frown.
"A pint of lager and a coke, please," the Manc asked.
"Half a bitter and a what?" came the response.
Luckily, for the thirsty Manc, a well travelled lorry driver, who was almost certainly not a serial killer interjected on his behalf.
"He wants a pint of lager and a coke doll," he translated.
"Oh," the gormless barmaid reported. "Why didn't he say?"
Having slaked his thirst, the thirsty Mancunian remarked:
"It's dead weird this. They understand me in Europe, but not in the Midlands. I won't be coming here again in a hurry."
