From J. Wright
The French do not say “from the 4 corners of a hexagon” (Forum, 25 February) but … of the hexagon” meaning France, because of its shape. Children learning to draw a map of France are taught to start drawing a hexagon and then to fit in the map, having thus the approximate shape and good proportions; for all French people “the hexagon” is a synonym of France. The 4 corners are of course North, South, East and West. So “from the 4 corners of the hexagon” means “from everywhere in France”.
