There are some things you just do not mention at a discreet power meeting like the World Economic Forum in Davos.
For instance, however great the temptation, nobody was going to utter the name of Monica Lewinsky when Hillary Clinton put in her appearance at a public session yesterday.
More significantly, perhaps, given the regiment of smart-suited economic experts who shuttle between the discussion panels on the future of the world, nobody liked to raise the question of what was not mentioned at last year's meeting of the international thinkfest.
Nobody, that is, except one intrepid reporter who asked a panel made up of a banker, two professors and a leading analyst why they had not even mentioned the possibility of an Asian financial crisis at last year's session.
After an awkward silence, Kenneth Courtis of Deutsche Bank Group Asia said he seemed to remember that they had mentioned South Korea.
Ah yes, and what about Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia . . .? Time for the next question.