"In short supply" is the fashionable phrase nowadays. When so many things are scarce, it is no doubt excusable to seek variety in the ways of saying so. But the invention of this inelegant expression has had the opposite effect, for it has driven all rivals off the field. It would be a relief to go back to "scarce" occasionally. Let us hope that the introduction of Sir Short Supply as one of the Itma characters did something to debunk this cliché.