Sideswipe: The most uncool royal keepsake

Photo / Supplied

The most ridiculous royal wedding item I have spotted has to be this fridge/freezer with a photo of William and Kate plastered across the front.

"The royal wedding has really captured the UK's imagination," said a GE distributor spokesman.

"And it was no surprise that a William and Kate commemorative fridge was a popular choice. It certainly wipes the floor with your usual commemorative tea towels and mugs and is most definitely one of the most novel royal wedding products."

A jezebel.com reader said: "Let's hope William doesn't become a frigid heir."

Help that doesn't help at all

New word: Swedow (SWEE.doh) n. Unnecessary or inappropriate items donated to a charity organisation or relief effort (via Wordspy.com).

"In Indonesia, 4000 tonnes of donated drugs arrived after the tsunami," said Jason Nickerson, an Ottawa PhD candidate studying healthcare in humanitarian crises.

"Most of those drugs weren't required, were labelled in foreign languages or were close to expiry. They overwhelmed the capacity of local incinerators to dispose of them.

The problem is known by the acronym Swedow: Stuff We Don't Want." (Source: The Globe and Mail)

Beer is a drink for children

The lower house of Russia's Parliament has approved a bill to classify beer, for the first time, as an alcoholic beverage.

Traditionally, because of the dominance of the vodka industry, beer has been regarded as more of a soft drink. (Source: News of the Weird)

Double and triple checking

A reader writes: "I went to apply for a bus driver's job and they said they needed a police clearance certificate from my home country. I told them I've been in NZ for the past nine years and I am a citizen. The lady at reception said, 'It is not long enough, according to NZTA', and I may have committed some serious crime before coming here. If so, how did I get myself into New Zealand in the first place?"

Translator needed for NZ accent

"I know what Andrew means about the woman in that live Countdown ad at 'tin pass sivin'," writes Martin. "Yesterday morning, Radio New Zealand was interviewing a woman who was discussing something called 'choldrun'."

If it's too good to be true ...

Update on the Prince Harry/Kate Middleton wedding mug from last week. It was suspicious that someone could make such a huge mistake accidentally and it appears it was a joke. B3ta.com says: "A quick check on Companies House finds a number of opportunistic businesses registered to the same address including Cantpaymybills.co.uk, Can Support It Limited, Powerflush King and Sex Toy Shippers."