“On the one-year anniversary of my Ukrainian orphans’ arrival in Poland (C8) we were driving yesterday,” writes Chris Keane who is now back in Seattle (USA). “The kids, who have been learning English using Duolingo, have their heads packed full of an eclectic array of English names and phrases. When Pound the Alarm by Nicki Minaj came on the car’s playlist, I almost crashed into a pole (wooden, not human) when the kids gleefully belted out the chorus. Instead of singing ‘pound the alarm!‘, they sang ‘Bob Dylan!’ That’s the new lyric now, I guess. Sorry, Nicki.”
“I’ve just encountered the ultimate in ‘phone on loudspeaker’ (C8) madness,” declares Merona Martin of Meroo Meadow. “The couple beside me in a local cafe put their phone on loudspeaker and held it out, almost in my face, so their two noisy, bouncing dogs could say hello to a friend who happened to call.”
Graham Bird of St Ives confesses: “[I] resisted owning a mobile phone for as long as possible, telling people in the 1990s I wasn’t important enough to have one. From the dawn of the new century, I changed my tune, telling people I was too important to have one.”
“Contrary to comment from Eric Scott (C8), Bell did not invent the telephone, he stole it from Italian immigrant inventor Antonio Meucci who had sought Bell’s advice on its usefulness,” claims Shane Nunan of Finley. “Bell told him it was not of any use but immediately registered the patents behind Meucci’s back and was given credit for its invention. However, the US House of Reps belatedly awarded credit to Meucci in 2002. Others have also claimed credit for this invention.”
Stewart Copper’s shark tale (C8) featured a bit of a directional miscue when he expressed concern about them swimming “west across the Pacific”. The resultant feeding frenzy was just kicking off with the likes of Julie Campbell of Redfern, who noted that “they would have to circumnavigate South America via the Magellan Straits or sneak through the Panama Canal” when Stewart decided to fall on his harpoon and offer a correction.
“Perhaps your granddaughter’s class could move onto Monet, de Gas and Van Gogh, rather than da Vinci, Toni Mulholland (C8). Then you could tell her that after meeting Costa Living, you hope you have some Monet to pay for de Gas to make de Van Gogh,” says Judy Archer of Hornsby.
Column8@smh.com.au
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