Cable The basic form of communication between embassies and home. Traditionally messages were manually encoded and sent by telegram, so unless they liked spending hours on end squinting over a code book in dim candlelight diplomats tried to keep their cablegrams short and succinct. Now many countries use technology which bypass telegraph lines altogether.

Grateful A taut but polite way to make a request is to start a sentence with this word, e.g.: Grateful post cables report by COB Friday. A friend and former diplomat has on his answering machine: Grateful you leave your name and number after the tone.

Optics How a situation looks. For example, the optics of getting drunk and disorderly at a party would not bevery favourable.

To Die in a Ditch (for something) To be overly committed to a particular position. This inelegant phrase was coined by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra, but remains timeless despite its hackneyed usage.

Likeminded Used as a noun to identify a country or person with similar views or imperatives - one of us.

Chapeau The introduction in a treaty text that outlines its background and describes, sometimes with quaintly elevating language, what the objectives are.

Atmospherics How a situation feels, particularly when two sides are facing each other off. Other people might call it the 'under-current', the 'buzz' or just 'something in the air'.

Interlocutor According to Wikipedia it describes someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government.

Heavy Lifting The act of working hard to achieve something, even if in diplomacy the only physically arduous activity is remaining alert and well presented while the alcohol, caffeine and jet lag eat you from the inside.