Sideswipe: February 27th: One strange cookie

Er, no thanks.

English becomes a foreign language
Franks writes: "Boys I have taught have all orally used these words in the last year in class in Year Eight (Form Two for the oldies among us). Can you interpret them? "Anyways, nex-ted, brang, sof-ted, worser, much girls, took-en, bester, twoselves, draw-ded, stepted, many moneys, all their mens, hi-ted, lots of thems, and the best: One boy asked, 'What's wrong with 'Sheeps are dumb?' Another asked why the binder holes were 'on the wrong side of the paper?'"

Funny kid questions and answers
1. "My 4-year-old last week walking home from a birthday party, observing the lawns we passed: "Why are all these sprinklers on when no one is playing in them?"

2. I had a friend's daughter over to our house to play one day, she was about 5 years old. She had lived in apartments all her life and we had a fire going. She looked at me and said, "Why are you cooking wood?"

3. "My 7-year-old had answers for what BC and AD mean: "Before Computers" and "After Dinosaurs".

4. "I was talking about chickens with my 4-year-old the other day and he asked, "Chicken the food, or chicken the animal?"

- (Source: quora.com)

They should do a two-for-the-price-of-one promotion. Spotted in Dargaville.

Kindness of a stranger
Leigh McGowan of Titirangi writes: "I'd like to thank the young man who I had the good fortune to sit beside on the 3.50pm train from Britomart to Waitakere on Thursday. He didn't make me feel a klutz when I asked him for assistance when my dinosaur of a cellphone wouldn't work. My husband and I have one phone, used only if an emergency occurs when we are in the car, or as in this case to ask him to pick me up from the station. He patiently talked me through possible scenarios as to why it wouldn't work (the Spark network was down) and then kindly offered his cellphone (not on the Spark network), so I could contact my husband. I am most grateful for his kindness."

Faces In Things: "Life is grate just hanging with my friends," says Tracey.