ARCHIVES -
NOVEMBER 2003 TO APRIL 2004
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BLUEBONNETS
FOR BAGHDAD
It's April, and bluebonnets, the beautiful wildflowers Texas chose as
its emblem in 1901, are blooming in many parts of that vast State, to
the delight of residents and visitors. Next year they may also decorate the
courtyards of Saddam Hussein's former palace in Baghdad. To read this
little-known news story , which began in Paris, click on
BLUEBONNETS. 0404
CRONKITE,
COOKE AND GRIFFIN
Life Begins at 80 salutes three famous writers and broadcasters who led or are
still leading active lives long after becoming octogenarians: veteran U.S. broadcaster
Walter Cronkite, 87, who once was voted "the most trusted man in America";
British-born radio and TV icon, the late Alistair Cooke, 95, of Letter from America
fame, and A. Harry Griffin, 93, who still writes a regular column,
Country Diary, for a London newspaper. Read more about them by clicking
on C C and G. 0404
ONE
PERSON'S TRASH IS ANOTHER'S TREASURE
If it's useless to you, and you can't sell it, don't throw it out
- give it to someone else living nearby! That's the philosophy behind
the worldwide Freecycle network, which will celebrate its first anniversary next
month. The idea, born in Tucson, Arizona, quickly caught on, and has spread
nationwide and to Canada, the UK, Japan, India, Australia and other countries. Read about it by clicking on
FREECYCLE. 0404
WAWA
HERE, WAWA THERE, WAWAS EVERYWHERE
We mentioned the small Canadian town of Wawa, Northern Ontario last
month, in a story headed North Pole to Guatemala. Since then, we've
discovered that, just as the virtual world is full of SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, the real
world is full of WAWA, WAWA, WAWA. For details, click on
WAWA. 0404
SCHOOL
THAT DISAPPEARED
From time to time over the last 50 or more years, I've had nostalgic
thoughts about my first school, in faraway England. Two months ago, I thought I
could easily find out how South Chingford Primary School was faring by
consulting the internet. Wrong. To my surprise, not one of the search engines
seemed to have heard of it. After an arduous search I discovered why. Read
The Strange Case of the School That Disappeared, by clicking on
CHINGFORD. 0404
WHY
TYPEWRITER'S A ONE-LINE WORD
We think we now know why the letters forming the word
TYPEWRITER are all on the same line of most typewriters and computer keyboards.
Believing it to have been more than a coincidence, we asked the half-million
word lovers who receive Anu Garg's weekly roundup, AWADmail, if they knew
the reason. To read the full story, click on
TYPEWRITER. 0404
AMAZING
TYPEWRITER ARTIST
Eighty-two-year-old Paul Smith is a heart-warming and inspiring
example of one man's triumph over adversity. Unable to walk, read or write, and
confined to a wheelchair, he has drawn hundreds of superb pictures by using an
old-fashioned typewriter. And he's been doing that for 60 years.
Many of his sketches and paintings can be seen on the internet, by following
the links shown at the end of this story about
PAUL SMITH. 0403
WHO
WAS JIMMY VALENTINE?
Listening to people discussing St. Valentine's Day with Sydney ABC
talkback radio presenter James Valentine, we recalled a once popular song,
Look out for Jimmy Valentine. Who, we wondered, was
Jimmy Valentine? We searched the internet, and found the answer on a most
unlikely website. To read this story, and enjoy a few hilarious rhymes with a
sting, click on VALENTINES. 0403
FINLAND'S
SHOUTING MEN
Have you seen a very funny photograph of a group of men dressed as
penguins serenading the crew of an ice-breaker stuck in arctic pack ice? The
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) posted it on its popular website early
last month, and it's been copied (often without attribution) by dozens of "humor"
sites around the world. To hear and see more of this unique choir, click on
SHOUTING MEN. 0403
CANDIDATE
FOR A PULLET SURPRISE
Ten years ago, Professor Jerrold Zar composed a brilliant poem, which he called
Candidate for a Pullet Surprise. Since then, thousands of readers around
the world have chuckled over the poem and emailed it to their friends. It's also
a favourite on the internet. Hundreds of sites have copied the original words,
or posted versions amended by various wits and halfwits. Some have retitled it
as Owed to a Spelling Checker or Spellbound, without naming the
author. To read Zar's story, and the original poem, click on
PULLET SURPRISE. 0403
THREE
SISTERS GET AROUND
The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney are one of
Australia's greatest tourist attractions. Meehni is 922 metres high, Wimlah 918
metres, and Gunnedoo 906 metres.But they're not alone. In the US, three
volcanoes in Oregon are known as the Three Sisters, as are huge monoliths in
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Utah. For good measure, Canada and South
Africa also have Three Sisters. Read about
these spectacular landmarks, and see some great photos, by clicking on
THREE SISTERS. 0403
NORTH
POLE TO GUATEMALA
We are delighted to find that this unique e-book, written in
Australia and published in South Africa, is read in places as far apart as North
Pole (Alaska), Wawa (Canada), Buffalo (New York) and even in tropical Guatemala,
Central America. Readers from all those place sent us encouraging emails last
month. Their friendly messages prompted us to make virtual visits to all those
places. Join us on that fascinating trip, by clicking on
NORTH POLE. 0403
GOOD
NEWS FOR THE OVER-50s
"Life may begin at 40 but the fun starts at 50, according to the
latest in a series of studies showing that life for the over-50s is becoming
better than ever," Susan Bisset wrote in the London Telegraph on February
22. The Sydney Morning Herald ran the same article the next day. You can read either version by clicking on
LONDON or
SYDNEY. And then take a look at
Silver Surfers' Day. 0403
WAS
SHAKESPEARE A CON MAN?
Some people are convinced that the Elizabethan playwright Christopher
Marlowe, officially reported to have been killed in a knife fight at the age of
29, had in fact faked his death and fled to Italy. There, they believe, he
continued to write, his work being published in England in Shakespeare's name.
Australian film maker Mike Rubbo has made a controversial documentary about it.
For our story, click on Much Ado About Something. 0402
BRAS,
BOOTS AND BIKES
New Zealanders let it all hang out - on rural fences. They display
vast collections of used shoes, bras, bicycles, and even skins of feral pigs, on
roadside fences that have become tourist attractions. In many parts of the US
and a few in Canada, old shoes decorate trees instead of fences. To read
about this strange craze, click on
FENCES. 0402
SOCKET POCKET PACKET IS VICTIM OF A RACKET
Back in 1994, Professor Gene Ziegler wrote a long and witty poem
containing these ludicrous lilting lines:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
Then some villain cut his poem in half, retitled it, and posted it on a
website as the work of an anonymous writer. Since then, hundreds of webmasters
have copied the "stolen" poem, without mentioning its author. Discover his
true identity by clicking on
GENE ZIEGLER. 0402
FRUITCAKES
AND FRUITCAKES
Why do so many Americans hate fruitcakes? We first became aware of
this phenomenon when we read a story by the New Zealand Herald's New York
correspondent, Roger Franklin, under the heading A time when aliens feel like
fruitcakes. "For some reason, on this side of the Pacific, fruitcakes are
not merely disliked, they are detested and vilified," Roger reported. For
details of this nutty story, click on
FRUITCAKES. 0402
UNO-ers
ARE A PAIN IN THE EAR, YOU KNOW
UNO-ers afflict the English-speaking world. We're not referring to
members of the United Nations Organisation. We mean people who persist in
inserting the words you know between phrases and sentences. You find
them in full flight, you know, on talkback radio, and in TV interviews
you know, with footballers, jockeys and even a few politicians, you know.
Do French speakers similarly interpolate vous savez, Germans Sie
wissen, Italians sapete, and Spanish-language speakers usted sabe?.
"People around the world fill pauses in their own languages as naturally as
watermelons have seeds," Michael Erard wrote in the New York Times on
January 3. You can read his diverting story by clicking on
PAUSE FILLERS. 0402
WEBZINE'S
BONZER STORIES
One of Australia's most interesting webzines, BONZER! has begun
including a story from our e-book in each issue. Bonzer! is a free,
monthly online journal by, for and about seniors. Run entirely by volunteers,
its editors, writers and readers live in Australia, Canada, Holland, India, New
Zealand, UK and US. Its editor, Alan Wheatley (Melbourne) says: "Bonzer!
tends to be a quasi-literary journal, but has no pretensions, I hope. We simply
publish what we consider to be good writing, both fiction and non-fiction, from
seniors." To read the magazine, click on
BONZER! 0402
BIRTHDAY
GREETINGS FROM THE QUEEN
Nimble ninety-niners in the UK, Australia, and some other
Commonwealth countries can relax. Contrary to a report in a Sydney newspaper,
they WILL receive messages from the Queen on their 100th birthdays. The report
wrongly stated that "500,000 is the number of centenarians in Britain. Letters
of congratulations from the Queen were dispensed with some time ago because the
milestone is now too common." Someone mistook a crystal ball story by Robin
McKie in the London Observer, set in 2060, for a current report. Read
the original story by clicking on
The Observer. 0402
FORTY
VAN GOGHS: REAL OR FAKES?
Forty chalk drawings, sketches and paintings signed Vincent,
on display in the Breda Museum, in southern Holland, until February 1, have the
potential to touch off a furious argument among art experts around the world:
are they genuine Van Goghs, or worthless fakes? Vincent Van Gogh committed
suicide in 1890, when he was only 37, after a career of less than 10 years. He
produced hundreds of paintings, but sold only one, to his brother. Today, some
of his paintings, especially his later work, are worth millions of dollars.
To read more , please click on
VINCENT. 0401
LIFE
BEGINS AT 80... ON THE RADIO
Radio presenter Scott Levi browsed through this website while
questioning me about it, in a novel interview broadcast by the Australian
Broadcasting Commission's Central Coast station at Gosford, New South Wales, one
day last month. "It's fantastic, it's New Age publishing," he said. "It's one of
the best radio websites I've ever seen." For a transcript of this interview,
please click on ABC. 0401
NEW
YORK: BAGHDAD-ON-THE-SUBWAY
"O Henry had another name for New York City - Baghdad on the Hudson,"
a reader who was born in New York told us after reading last month's story
Gotham: Paradise of Fools, in which we listed odd nicknames for American
cities. But that's not the name O Henry bestowed on his beloved city. He called
New York Baghdad-on-the-Subway. For the full story, click on
BAGHDAD. 0401
HUNT
FOR TWO BUFFALOES
Here in Australia we have a Kangaroo Island, a Kangaroo Point and a
Kangaroo Valley. In America, New York State has a city called Buffalo, named
after the bison which used to drink from the nearby Buffalo Creek. South Africa
went one better, by naming a place Twee Buffels (Afrikaans for Two
Buffaloes), said to be short for
Tweebuffelsmeteenskootamperdoodgeskietsfontein. We surfed the internet to
find this place, with surprising results. For details, click on
TWEE BUFFELS. 0401
SMALL
CURATE VISITS PENNY LANE
We wondered whether we could find something of interest about Penny
Lane (the place, not the famous song) on the internet. Among many references, we
found a great description in "Notes from a Small Curate" whose parish is in the
Beatles' home town of Liverpool. To read extracts from the Rev. John Davies's
entertaining diary, click on
PENNY LANE. 0401
DO
YOU REMEMBER THIS?
This day and age we're living in gives cause for apprehension,
with speed and new invention and things like fourth dimension. Yet we get a
trifle weary with Mr. Einstein's theory, so we must get down to earth at times,
relax, relieve the tension. Those wise words might well have been composed
this year, but in fact they're the opening lines of a song that was little known
when first recorded back in 1931, yet is now a classic. Guess the song's
title before you click to learn the
ANSWER. 0401
COONBOTTOM
AND COWBOYS
"The official name of my teeny-tiny town is Concord, a suburb of
slightly larger Havana (kiddingly pronounced HAY-vana), Florida, but folks
hereabouts call the area Coonbottom.," says reader Linda Jamison, commenting on
our recent story about odd U.S. place names. For Linda's and another reader's
comments, click on FEEDBACK. 0401
GOTHAM:
PARADISE OF FOOLS
Most of the world's great cities have nicknames, some complimentary,
others derisive. We lucky people living in Sydney, Australia (The Harbour
City, The Emerald City, and (until Black Saturday) Home of the Rugby
World Cup) unkindly refer to our
rival city of Melbourne as Bleak City... To read about the colorful nicknames
of some of the great cities in the United States, click on
GOTHAM.
0312
BARMY
ARMY SHOULD CHANGE ITS TUNE
Jonny Wilkinson became Britain's national hero when he kicked a
magnificent winning field goal in the last minute of extra time, in the
heart-stopping Rugby World Cup final against Australia in Sydney last week. His
thousands of supporters, the Barmy Army, time and again sang their theme song,
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Why didn't they sing Oh Jonny, Oh Jonny,
Oh? ... To read more, please click on
JONNY.
0312
COBBERS,
LIKE CONCORDS, ARE HISTORY
Most Australians these days never use the word COBBER. The only time
we hear it is when it's uttered by oversea visitors, who are misled by their
travellers' guides. It's been superseded by MATE. A Canadian writer claims the
word was originally applied to passengers in Cobb & Co's horse-drawn CONCORD
coaches in outback Australia. Read about it by clicking on
COBBER.
0312
FIVE BEAUT AUSSIE WORDS
In case you missed seeing them when they were first published a few
weeks ago, here are stories about five great Aussie words: FURPHY, FOSSICK,
WOWSER, YABBER and DINKUM. Please click on
FURPHY.
0312
READERS
LOVE FURPHIES
Our recent stories about Australian and New Zealand words, some in
this e-book, others in A Word A Day, have prompted comments from readers around the world. To read their
interesting comments, click on
FEEDBACK.
WORDSMITH'S
ASIAN TOUR
Anu Garg, mastermind of the global newsletter A Word A Day,
has returned home to Seattle (U.S.) after a three country, five city, seven
week, 10 speech tour of Asia.
He travelled in planes, trains, trams, buses, taxis, and rickshaws, and
encountered people speaking Mandarin, Thai, Hindi, Punjabi, English and other
languages. During a five-week visit to his former homeland, he was featured in one of
India's best-known online magazines, Rediff. You can read the interview by
clicking on ANU GARG.
0312
PAPERCUTS
AREN'T JUST FOR KIDS
In the western world, paper-cutting (folding a sheet of paper, then
cutting or tearing pieces out of it, to form patterns) is usually confined to
the kindergarten. But in China, it's an ancient art form. You'll appreciate
the skill of some of the world's best papercut artists, and the beauty of their
work, if you follow the links at the end of a story you can read by clicking on
PAPERCUTS.
0312
UK
WEBSITE JOINS GRAYPOW NETWORK
We are delighted to announce that
Age-Net, "Britain's biggest and best age related website," has joined our
global Graypow Network, which unites five of the world's best websites for
senior citizens, in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa. To see
links to those websites, please click on
GRAYPOW NETWORK.
0312
THAI
TEENAGER'S WEDDING
Two years ago, we raved about a
Thai
Teenager's Great Websites. Last month that same talented young man, Nattawud
Daoruang, married his childhood sweetheart ... and proudly installed a live cam
to show the ceremony from his Thailand Life website. "Since I was 12
years old, I have been inviting people into my life in order for them to learn
about the Thai culture," he said. "I am proud that not only my family and
friends in Thailand could see my wedding but also the many friends I have made
in over 100 different countries around the world." To see his wedding photos,
click on NATTAWUD.
0312
eMAIL
VIRUS WARNING
Our computer has been attacked by an annoying virus which has
corrupted many of our recent e-mails, both in and out. We warn all readers that
their computers too may be affected. You can check out the danger symptoms by
clicking on VIRUS.
0312
OUR
AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS
We offer all our readers our best wishes for Health, Wealth and Happiness. If
you would like to read a long and interesting description of how we Aussies
spend our summertime Christmas, we invite you to read a story by septuagenarian Tom Wills, who
lives in
Sussex Inlet, a picturesque coastal resort 204km (127 miles) south of
Sydney. His favourite motto is "Growing old is mandatory - acting old is
optional." To
read his story, click on
CHRISTMAS.
0312
TEN
PIGEONS UNDER A MOCKAMOCK TREE
Although separated by only 1200 miles (2000 km) of the Tasman Sea,
Australia and New Zealand, both former British colonies, have drifted poles
apart in their choice of English words and the way they pronounce their vowels.
When a New Zealander says "six" an Australian hears "sex" or "sux"; when an
Aussie says "six" the Kiwi hears "seeks." For a story about some odd-sounding
Kiwi words, click on TEN
PIGEONS.
0311
FAIR
DINKUM JACKEROO, DINGO AND KANGAROO
Addressing Australia's Federal Parliament in Canberra on October 23,
U.S. President George W. Bush lavished praise on Prime Minister John Howard.
"You might remember that I called him a 'man of steel' - that's Texan for 'fair
dinkum,'" he said. Dinkum and other odd Oz words will be explained if you
click on
FAIR DINKUM. 0311
REBECCA'S
139 STREET CHILDREN
Rebecca Tsiane has unselfishly dedicated her life to the plight of street
children in her South African home town of Kimberley. A few weeks ago, at a
ceremony arranged by Kimberley Rotary Club, she received a Paul Harris
Fellowship, an award made to her by the Rotary Club of Brownsburg, Indiana (US). To read
this inspiring story, please click on
REBECCA.
0311
CONDOM,
INTERCOURSE, CLIMAX!
Readers of this e-book have told us of dozens of their favorite weird
place names, after reading last month's story about Pity Me (England),
Intercourse (Pennsylvania), Hell (Michigan), and Moron (Cuba). Checking out
some of those places, because they sounded so unlikely, we found two websites
with huge lists of even weirder U.S. place names. For full details, click on
ODD PLACES.
0311
'AUSSIE
AUSSIE AUSSIE' AT RUGBY WORLD CUP
Will spectators excitedly chant Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! at the
Rugby World Cup matches in Australia this month? Whenever that rousing chorus
echoed around the world on TV and radio from the Olympic Games three years ago,
those shouting it unknowingly boosted the worldwide popularity of that
ubiquitous but peculiar British dish, the Cornish Pasty. For this story,
please click on AUSSIE
CHANT.
0311
SHACKLE'S
UNSHACKLED
Nearly 50 years ago, my ever-loving wife, Jerry Shackle, weary from
coping with our four young children and a heedless husband, heard a gramophone
(phonograph) recording of a popular song being played on the "wireless." Russ Columbo sang "I need no SHACKLES to remind me/I'm just a prisoner of love." She
shrugged her shoulders and gave me a rueful smile. On rare occasions, to this
very day, she (and most wives the world over) has probably wished she was
UNSHACKLED. In Chicago, a long-running religious radio program is strangely
called UNSHACKLED.
Read why it was so named, by clicking on
UNSHACKLED.
0311
CLARISSA
MAY SELL JOHN PEEL
We suggested last month that Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the
BBC's Two Fat Ladies, should change the colour of her car from red to
gray. In naming it JOHN PEEL, we said, she has perpetuated a popular
myth, since John Peel's coat was gray, not red. Sadly, Clarissa may now have to
sell her lovely red Saab convertible, instead of respraying it, as her lawyers
have
filed for bankruptcy (for the third time). We found an amusing story about
this latest setback to her colorful career, in a famous U.K. newspaper. You
can read it for free (and thus confirm the accuracy of the anagram, HASN'T COST
ME) by clicking on
THE SCOTSMAN.
0311
FUN
WITH WORDS
Word-lovers will enjoy roaming through English university student
Daniel Austin's new website, dedicated to amusing quirks, peculiarities, and
oddities of the English language. Daniel presents more than 500 pages of word
puzzles, games, amazing lists, and fun facts. You can visit it by clicking on
FUN WITH WORDS.
0311
All above articles copyright © 2004. Eric
Shackle
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