KEY POINTS:
Overuse of apostrophes is all too common, writes a reader, but "despite underuse in this case, the Autobahn Cafe at a service centre on the Southern Motorway was STILL open and was very good".
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A reader writes: "While in Scotland, my wife's accent was instantly identified as being from New Zealand, largely because New Zealand's Police 10/7 programme screens there. What idea do you think the Scots are forming about this country? All the beautiful vistas of the Tourism New Zealand campaigns or armed robberies, P-addict assaults, murders, drunken morons and brain cell challenged youth? Perhaps Tourism New Zealand could focus on getting the export of that show cancelled, in the national interest."
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Oxford University has compiled a list of the most irritating phrases in the English language. Any more to add to the list?
1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It's a nightmare
8. Shouldn't of
9. 24/7
10. It's not rocket science
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Tony Waring of Titirangi writes: "Waitakere City Council's latest newsletter to households opens with an article encouraging residents to reduce their water usage with the sentence: 'Drinking water is a finite and expensive resource to collect, treat and supply to homes.' It seems that buzz words and phrases like 'finite resource' get used to a point where some people drop them into their language for emotional effect, and forget their real meaning. Kids in primary school start to learn about the 'water cycle', where the rain falls, evaporates, and falls again. Oil is a finite resource, as they're not making any more, but the rain just keeps on coming."
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A woman rang police thinking her house in Rheydt, near Munchengladbach, Germany, had been ransacked by burglars. But the complainant's teenage daughter turned up as police were trying to work out how burglars had entered the locked flat and told her mum she had made the mess looking for her togs and hadn't had time to clean it up. A police spokesman said: "It looked like a classic break-in when we arrived, ornaments had been broken, drawers emptied and furniture upended." (Source: Ananova.com)
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Today's Webpick: One of the least effective television ads ever made. Bet you can't guess what they're advertising. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
