In 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill met Stalin at the Teheran Conference. Roosevelt found Stalin stiff, cold, and uncommunicative. For three days he failed to cut through Stalin's icy reserve.
Then, on the fourth day, before discussions commenced, Roosevelt put on a chummy air and, lifting his hand to cover a whisper, said to Stalin, "Winston is cranky this morning, he got up on the wrong side of the bed."① A vague smiled passed over Stalin's eyes. As soon as they sat down at the conference table, Roosevelt began to tease Churchill about his Britishness, about John Bull,②about his cigar, about his habits. Churchill got red and scowled, and the more he did so, the more Stalin smiled. Finally he broke into a hearty guffaw, and, laughing, shook hands with Roosevelt.
一九四三年，羅斯福、邱吉爾在德克蘭與斯大林會議。羅斯福發覺斯大林表現生硬冷漠，沉密寡言，頭三天都無法改變斯大林這種拒人千里的態度。
到了第四天，商議開始之前，羅斯福裝出熟落的樣子，以掌遮唇，低聲跟斯大林說：「老邱今早下牀躓仆，脾氣不好。」斯大林雙目微露笑意。三人才在會議桌前坐下，羅斯福就拿邱吉爾取笑，笑其英國脾性，笑約翰牛②，笑其雪茄，笑其習慣。邱吉爾氣得臉都紅了，怒形於色。而他越氣，斯大林越是忍俊不禁，終於縱聲大笑，還笑着跟羅斯福握手。
① 據十九世紀迷信說法，「起牀在不恰當的一方」（to get up on the wrong side of the bed），當日就會事事不如意，心情也不會好。
②約翰牛（John Bull）是十八世紀一首諷刺詩的主角，是個紅臉胖子。John Bull後來就成為英國人的綽號。