In fact, he asserted, if he was to stray from the straight and narrow, this particular PhD student would find herself rather far back in the queue. Besides which, he whispered, he'd always assumed she was involved with a colleague in another department...
Carnivorous Cow could relate. Of all the people she'd been linked to on the grapevine, very few of them - if any that she could recall - would have passed muster on her "might consider" list. That was the trouble with the grapevine - one was simply not given any credit for any taste one might have. In fact, the more _unlikely_ the association, the more fervently the grapevine seized it in its teeth and clung on.
Still, she was rather relieved that the grapevine had victims other than herself these days - and speculating on Mr Timberland's extra-mural activities made a welcome change from speculating on the identity of Mr Timberland, after all.