I neglected to mention, in my post on paraprosdokians, that some of the finest examples are to be found in our streets and public conveniences in the form of graffiti. Take this classic of the genre, reportedly seen in a … Read More »
Thanks to Mick for this. Commenting on my bicycle thieves post he quoted actor, writer and stand up comic Emo Philips: I asked God for a bike, but then realised God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike … Read More »
As lockdown closed sports stadiums across Britain, BBC rugby commentator Nick Heath took to our parks and streets with his smartphone, professional skills and quintessentially English wit. Try his instant classic, Two Lonely Blokes in a Park … … the … Read More »
Mathematician and astronomer Fred Hoyle rejected the big bang theory (coining that term in a radio interview put-down) in favour not of creationism but of panspermia – the idea that life on earth originated in micro-organisms arriving from outer space. … Read More »
Spotted in today’s Economist … (Not that this is particularly French or particularly new …)
In Walking the Erewash I composed a limerick to steer readers past the pitfall of pronouncing the eponymous river as ‘earwash’. Pairing it with ‘very posh’ I thought to spare embarrassment, should ever you find yourself in that neck of … Read More »
Here’s a full list of postal districts for the Coventry (CV) postal area: Granted, when I checked three other postal areas – Sheffield, Nottingham and Slough – they too showed gaps in the district numbering. Still, makes you wonder, innit? … Read More »
… they put you on the day shift. B. Dylan, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner.
It’s a tale of two Philips. Oxford commas, not to be confused with learned lepidopterans, also come in handy when list items house subclauses which may themselves contain the conjunctives and or or: Oxford Colleges include Magdalen, ‘Maudlin’ to the … Read More »