I'm sure you've all heard about the Prince Phillip 'faux pas"
Quote:
But in addition to delivering a gift to the Obamas, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, delivered a faux pas as well when the two couples first met. (Although that is the sort of gift he often gives to the British media.)
The queen marveled at how the president managed to stay awake from the jet lag. President Obama detailed his schedule from the morning, mentioning that he had "meetings with the Chinese, the Russians, David Cameron. And I'm proud to say I did not nod off in one of the meetings."
Prince Philip, already chortling in the background, blurted: "Can you tell the difference between them?"
The president, trying to smooth over the awkward comment from a man known to make such gaffes, offered diplomatically, "It's all a blur, of course, of course."
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Now people have gone crazy saying that he insulted Chinese and Russians and all ethnics but that makes no sense to me. The 'them' he was referring to was the meetings, not the people.
Is there a technical term in English grammar that points out that
"them" = "the meetings"?