Piping off at the wrong time

Tell us about the funniest thing that happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Include your full mailing address. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged. This month’s winner is DAVID RIEGERT of Reno, Nevada:

During a cruise-tour with Stanford Travel Study several years ago, our group stopped at The Gordon Highlanders Museum near Aberdeen, Scotland. Like most museums, the place was staffed by volunteers who, among other things, provided guided tours for visitors.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. When we came to a room containing some very old guns and other military equipment, I noticed a rifle that appeared to have a metal jacket along the length of the barrel. I asked the guide if he could tell us what the purpose of the jacket was. He said that he didn’t know. 

One of the men in the group who knew something about firearms said that it was a silencer. At that, one of the women spoke up and said that it seemed silly to put a silencer on a gun when the Scots are out there with drums and bagpipes making all kinds of noise anyway. 

OK, somebody had to say it, so I said that it seemed to me that the silencer might have been put to better use on the bagpipes. 

At that, the guide spun around, gave me The Look and said, “Now you’re getting personal!”