One old sense of the word stranger means “a lone tea leaf floating in a cup of tea.” A longtime superstition holds that such a lone leaf means a stranger will soon show up at the door. In Britain, a host may offer to pour a cup of tea with the question Shall I be mother?, recalling the way children having a tea party may offer to serve. Meryl Streep delivers this line while playing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. This is part of a complete episode.
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