Yesterday I said if I knew how to say “thanks” in Scottish to Arlen Specter I would (Iain Murray later informed me that it’s “Tapadh leibh”). But some readers didn’t get the joke.

A quick refresher is in order because it’s too rich a vein of humor to let disappear down the memory hole. During the Clinton impeachment, Specter decided to invoke Scottish law rather than vote guilty or not guilty. Instead he opted for the Scottish third way of “not proven.” It was a wonderfully pompous moment and why ever now and then I’ve joked that he voted “Glen Fiddich.”