KEY POINTS:
While the walking/talking symbol for corporate integrity Erin Brockovich puts her good name behind New Zealand retailer Noel Leeming, Bond & Bond tries an opposing marketing tack. Wonder what Brockovich would think of this "light-hearted" campaign? Maybe the same as this reader from Takapuna: "No doubt some 25-year-old (or, worse-still, 45-year-old) male dickhead thought this was very funny, but given women are the main decision-makers in appliance purchases, I rather hope the sisterhood boycotts Bond & Bond for this misogynist ad masquerading as ironic."
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Beware of grammarians: An authoritative reader writes: "Your correspondent Emma is on thin ice (like many who have been taught a rule by someone once and then cling to it). Here's the rule for using "that" instead of "who". The man that wanted to talk to you just called back. Some people say that you can only use who and not that to introduce a restrictive relative clause that identifies a person. But that has been used in this way for centuries. It is a quintessential English usage, going back to the Old English period, and has been used by our best writers. So it is entirely acceptable to write either the man that wanted to talk to you or the man who wanted to talk to you."
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Ian Hughes writes: "To the pompous reader who suggests train travellers who don't pay taxes should stand ... I had a job after school at 12 years old and have paid tax ever since. My 3-year-old has a bank account for his Christmas money from Gran. He pays tax on his interest. Respect is earned, not given out by the tax department, and losing your hair does not mean you are wise. Wonder why kids respect their elders?" Equally, Gareth Baxter balks at this archaic attitude: "Reminds me of 'if you are a landowner you get a vote; until then you have no rights."
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The Tata Group, a Mumbai, India, company that handles customer-service calls for several US firms, has outsourced some of its work to a firm in Ohio, on behalf of a client that insists on operators knowledgeable about American geography. (Source: CNN.com)
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Mark Wright responds to yesterday's item about the price of matches ($1.30). "That's nothing!" he says. "In my previous homeland, in May 2006 a toilet roll cost $145,750. That's about $417 per SHEET. At their current inflation rate of approximately 10,000 per cent, a square of sandpaper-like toilet "tissue" should now be costing over $50,000! No prizes for guessing where I come from!"
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A reader found a set of car and house keys in the sand on Kohimarama Beach last Saturday. The key ring is from an Auckland Central pub, with VIP written on the back. So if you lost your keys at Kohi beach and can name the pub, call Russell on 021-144-8222 and he will get them back to you.
Today's Video Webpick: A home shopping product demonstration which shows the safety ladder isn't all it's cracked up to be -Watch it here. Scroll down. These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
