Our Vet is on an annual leave and we have a locum Vet to cover the leave. She's lovely and very skillful, but I struggle understanding her. We were operating on a dog (Vet obviously did the hard work, I was just mopping away the blood), when the Vet asked me to "push but not touch". it took me for a moment trying to figure out how exactly to do this- and I got it wrong anyway. I managed to stick my thumbs to the sterile drape, covering the operation area, contaminating it. Vet tried to contain her annoyment and took another drape out, cutting a neat hole in it and pointing out that best if I didn't get my mittens close to it this time. The operation continued and the dog started to bleed a lot. I noticed the Vet starting to worry about it, so I got immediately worried as well. When she asked me to "pull that up". "Pull what up?" I wondered aloud trying to suggest various things to pull up from the intubation tube to dog's ear. Vet continued; "Pull that up to check the oxygen!". "Oh, you mean you want to check the dog's tongue? It's nice and Pink!" I declared. Vet grunted and explained in a strained voice that she needed me to lift the dog's lip so that she can see her gums. Right. I'll know next time. Just when I started understanding the original Vet, I have to start learning another language.