Sideswipe

We know it rains a lot in Waihi, but this is a bit over the top, says Pat who spotted this ad in the Waihi Leader.

Hissy fit: Security guards at the Brisbane Airport check-in wouldn't let an 11-year-old Aucklander take two wooden snakes that he had in his hand luggage on the flight home, saying they might scare other passengers. The advertising for the Hollywood thriller Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, has reached the Sunshine Coast. This yet-to-be-screened thriller has generated such huge fan interest on the internet, the makers shot more scenes based on ideas from the online hubbub. The title, Snakes on a Plane was later changed to Pacific Air Flight 121, but Jackson made them change it back. The movie is due to start showing in New Zealand on August 24.

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A member of Punctuation Festival at Auckland University responds on the frequent misinterpretation of the expression "toe the line": An essay in Grammar and Usage for the Non-expert gives this explanation ... "A lot of people who don't know the origin of the phrase picture someone pulling a rope, cord, or some other line - 'towing the line' - as a way of working for whomever the 'line' belongs to ... Wrong. The phrase 'toe the line' is equivalent to 'toe the mark', both of which mean to conform to a rule or a standard." The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories says, "The idiom toe the line from an athletics analogy originated in the early 19th century. The sport referred to is foot-racing, where the competitors must keep their feet behind a 'line' at the start of the race - as in 'On your mark, get set, go!' So one who 'toes the line' is one who does not allow his foot to stray over the line."

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Toe the line number 2: One reader suggests the saying came from pre-breathalyser days when police would make the drunk driver walk down the white line on the edge of the road putting one toe from the left foot, after the toe on the right foot on the line, to see if he could walk in a straight line. There was even a 70s song called toe the line, a big hit at the time.

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Toe the Line number 3: Trish Howie suggests "toe the line" began as a 19th century boxing phrase. "Under the rules of bare knuckle boxing a round, instead of being three minutes, lasted until somebody got knocked down. This meant a round could last 10 or 15 minutes, or 10 or 15 seconds. Immediately a fighter was knocked down, his assistants (also known as seconds) would leap into the ring and drag the fighter back to his corner. They then had exactly a minute to revive him so he could walk unassisted to a line drawn across the middle of the ring. If he failed to walk up and "toe the line" his opponent would be declared the winner.