And, some churlish folk might say, the challenge proved just as difficult as the other three -- reading, writing and arithmetic.

The gauntlet was thrown down by House Speaker the Hon. Ernest DeCouto at the outset of yesterday's debate on Government's Green Paper on Independence.

Mr. DeCouto ruled it was "out of order'' for any MPs to refer to the Independence Referendum Act, which has yet to be debated.

It meant all references to "referendum'' were strictly forbidden.

Sticklers for the rules, but ever adept at skirting around an issue, MPs found some choice expressions in their "R'' of need.

For example, to Deputy Premier the Hon. Irving Pearman, a referendum was now "a vehicle for determining the views of Bermudians''.

For Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul the dreaded "R'' word had transformed into "sampling''.

Occasionally the verbal dexterity produced odd results.

Nobody was really sure whether Shadow Labour Minister Mr. Alex Scott was referring to the PLP -- or a referendum -- when he began talking about the "R'' way of doing things.

The pressure finally told.

"Oh darn it, I mean referendum!'' he declared, with a sheepish glance at the Speaker's Chair.