KEY POINTS:
Peter Lowden wondered if this sign worked, on a car parked in Wilson's, Fanshawe St.
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The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced the 2007 Word of the Year, "locavore" - combining "local" and the suffix of herbivore and carnivore and referring to the trend of using locally grown, seasonally available foods to avoid preservatives and create less of a carbon footprint. Runner-up phrases and words included:
Ageing in place: The process of growing older while living in one's own residence, instead of having to move to a new home or community.
Bacn: Email notifications, such as news alerts and social networking updates, that are considered more desirable than unwanted "spam" (coined at PodCamp Pittsburgh in August 2007 and popularised in the blogging community).
Cougar: An older woman who romantically pursues younger men.
Mumblecore: An independent film movement featuring low-budget production, non-professional actors and largely improvised dialogue.
Previvor: A person who has not been diagnosed with a form of cancer but has survived a genetic predisposition for cancer.
Social graph: The network of one's friends and connections on social websites such as Facebook and Myspace.
Tase (or taze): To stun with a Taser (popularised by a September 2007 incident in which a University of Florida student was filmed being stunned by a Taser at a public forum).
Upcycling: The transformation of waste materials into something more useful or valuable.
(Source: Via mental floss magazine)
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A diehard fan of the AFL team the Geelong Cats is regretting his decision to get a tattoo celebrating the team's premiership victory while on holiday in Thailand last week. "Neville" told a Brisbane radio station instead of the words "Day Premiers 2007", the tattoo artist called Neville's team the "Gay Premiers 2007". Neville said he had drunk 15 cans of beer during the five-hour tattooing process but had drawn pictures of the tattoos he wanted on each arm with the instructions "Right Arm" and "Left Arm" to make the delineation clear. Unfortunately, Neville now also has the words right arm tattooed on his right arm and left arm on his left. (Source: Brisbane Times)
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Strange names: Miriam Lynch knows of a real estate agent near Taranaki who specialises in farm properties - the firm's name is McDonalds, its logo is "EIEIO". And a reader remembers when his wife was thrown from a horse in South Africa and crushed two vertebrae in her lower spine. She was hospitalised in the local town for a month and treated by a Dr Horsefall. Cath was always amused walking along Molesworth St in Wellington, past a butcher's shop with the owner's name on the window - Sid E. Lamb. Malcolm Yorston remembers a hair dresser in Manchester St, Christchurch, by the name of Rex Firkin, who had a sign outside saying "Come in for a Firkin haircut".
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Today's Video Webpick: From PC World's list of the Greatest Hits of Viral Video& First night on the sports desk for young sports broadcaster Brian Collins and the damn teleprompter malfunctioned. Watch it here. Scroll Down.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
