As a younger brother I have the scars to prove your story is true. The one on my calf is the remains of a nail which went in blunt end first. Have I let my brother (an A&E consultant) forget it ? Not bloody likely. Re:Things up bums. In a different life I used to flog drugs for IBS and laxatives so I was er, big in guts. There were two funny things I remember. One was sitting in a ground floor room watching a training video on the use of rigid endoscopes. Not that intersting but absolutely fascinating to the windows cleaner outside. The other was a talk by gastro consultant to us sales reps. He finished with his "top ten slides". Pictures of things that people had mysteriously "fallen on". The one I remember most vividly was the re-appearance of a guiness bottle - narrow end first ! Big bro' has similar things to tell.