I might have mentioned it before, but I'm planning on getting married this summer. To that end, I've been browsing the web, looking for stories about wedding related disasters, hoping to learn from the mistakes of others. Just this evening I found a bit of advice that had not occurred to me - think about what your new name will be, especially if you are considering whether or not to hyphenate. And here's why.
Residents of the English town of Castleford in Yorkshire were probably delighted to hear that UK TV station Channel 4 was to film a documentary of the ongoing urban regeneration scheme, up until their local council decided to rename a local landmark ahead of filming. The popular local landmark had been known as “Tickle Cock Bridge” since Victorian times - probably due to its popularity as a trysting place according to one local historian – but prudish council members decided to put up signs for the more polite “Tittle Cott Bridge” for the cameras. However local objections have been so vocal that the officials have been forced to back down and restore the feature’s original “rude” name (Metro).
And if you fancy taking a trip to Tickle Cock Bridge, why not make a grand tour of it and take in some more of Britain’s rudest place names (Telegraph).
It’s always worth making sure you have plenty of the local currency on holiday, but for one German tourist this became more of a life-saver than a simple convenience. Dominik Podolsky was just riding the ski-lift back down in Hochzillertal in Austria as darkness fell when it was suddenly switched off, as it is every dusk, leaving him stranded. As temperatures dropped to minus 18° Celcius (0° F) Mr. Podolsky began to set light to whatever was to hand to attract attention, starting with paper napkins and some business cards before in desperation he was forced to set fire to his money. He had just burned his last euro when he was finally spotted by a cleaning crew and rescued (Orange).
Perhaps he would have done better to visit the Swiss side of the Alps instead. If not on the mountains, at the very least he would have been better looked after in that country's brothels. Principally because, with an increasing number of elderly clients packing a well-known anti-impotence treatment, Swiss brothels are training their staff in the use of defibrillators in an effort to stop the pill-popping pensioners become clog-popping corpses. "Having customers die on us isn't exactly good publicity" said one sex-club owner. Funny, I would have thought the opposite was true (Telegraph).
But trained as they may be, Swiss working girls will never have the edge on their American competitors. At least that’d be the conclusion you might draw from the results of a recent poll which placed America at number one on the list of countries with the most attractive people (Switzerland didn’t even make the top 20). So rejoice America, from the wild and wanton women of Walmart to the sultry street-girl sirens of Chattanooga, your beauty is unsurpassed (Herald Sun).
A Romanian would-be burglar was quite literally caught with his pants-down when he tried to sneak into a closed supermarket through a small window, became stuck, then somehow managed to wriggle out of his trousers while trying to free himself. Which was how he was found, 11 hours later (Sky News).
An 81 year-old Australian took a wrong turn when driving to collect the morning paper, ending up on a major highway. Nine hours and four hundred miles later, he finally stopped and asked for directions. Eric Steward later rejected offers of a satnav device saying he’d only been lost once before, from 1997 to 2001 (Reuters).
The British Government has produced a sex guide for pensioners. The guide examines the benefits of a healthy sex-life, suggests the safe positions for the frailer retirees, and explains how to use Viagra and practise safe sex (STV).
Santa Claus will have a slightly easier job of it this year as the US Postal Service has axed its seasonal practice of forwarding letters to Santa to North Pole, Alaska, where dozens of volunteers help answer them, after one volunteer recognised another as a listed sex offender (CNews).
A new exhibition at the National Socialism Documentation Centre in Cologne, Germany is revealing how the Nazi Party tried to “de-Christianise” Christmas. It documents how many carols still sung in Germany today were rewritten without their previous religious imagery, and includes a display of Nazi designed Christmas decorations from that period in the shape of swastikas, grenades and Iron Crosses (Telegraph).
I know you've had this thought at least once... you and your friends are sitting around, drinking a few brewskis (or shooters or whatever it is you drink). One of your friends says something completely off the wall and you think, "that'd be a great band name." Oddly enough, that is how some of the best known bands get their names. Other bands have their names chosen for them by record producers or managers (how boring). In the end, how a band gets its name seems to be as different from one band to the next as their various playing styles. Here is a comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, of some of the most popular bands in recent history and where their names come from. I admit that the list itself is not particularly weird, but the way some of the bands ended up with their current names definitely is.
This is just one of the many strange inventions that Fuller imagined would improve society. Dymaxion, which is an abbreviation of dynamic maximum tension, was the name he attached to many of his inventions. More >>
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Category: Family, Odd Names, Weird Names, Marriage, Weddings