COLUMN 8
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday December 16, 2009
"I am 72 and came to Penrith 68 years ago," writes Bill Hardy (nicknames for Pantherland, Column 8, since Saturday). "My wife was born in Penrith, and we have only recently moved to adjacent Glenmore Park. We have never heard Penrith referred to as 'The Rith' or 'The Riff"." But other readers seem to have, Ian Warlters of Oyster Cove being one of many. "It has always been 'The Riff" - just as Minto has always been 'Minno'," Ian insists.The waters upon which the Target plurals dispute floats have been further muddied by Barry Walsh of Gloucester, who points out that the words "lens" and "news" have both failed to appear in solution, despite being clearly admissible from the layout of the grid. "I've never seen a len, let alone a new, so there's something else going on here", Barry says, and he may well be right. Curioser and curioser.In a strangely similar vein, almost, comes this, from Cesylie Alston of West Haven: "Ah, the joy of interpretation. My just two-year-old neighbour, Claire, can now count to 10. Her elder sister asked her could she count backwards. Claire turned her head over her shoulder and looked behind her. 'One, two, three ..."'"I had to add this one to the recent discussion of acronyms," writes a helpless John Rogersof St Lucia, Queensland."A trilingual acronym, i.e., an acronym whose source wordsin three different languages produce the same acronym. Here it is - IBISCA: 'Investigating the Biodiversity of Soil and Canopy Arthopods' / 'Investigaciones sobre la Biodiversidad de los Insectos de la Selva Centro-Americana' / 'Inventaire de la Biodiversit des Insectes du Sol et de la Canope'. You'd have to wonder how much beer was consumed on how many field trips in how many parts of the world to achieve this result!""I just heard a radio commentator refer to 'carbon dockside'," reports Bill Stone of Ocean Shore. "Do you think he was talking about atmospheric gases, or the Newcastle coal loader?"Time for some detective work."I bought a mailing box at the QVB post office," reports Gareth Perkins of Chifley. "When I got it back to the office to put my parcel into the box, I found that there was a wrapped present already inside. The card attached says 'To Janette, Merry Christmas, Love Wendy and Denis'. The package is about 8cm x 8cm x 1cm and feels quite hard, like a tile. I'm not game to open it as yet, and was hoping someone would be able to help me get this present to the rightful recipients." OK - can we find Janette, Wendy or Denis by the end of the week? If not, is Gareth allowed to open the present? What are the ethics here?Column8@smh.com.au(no attachments please).Phone 9282 2207 fax 9282 2772. (include name, suburb, daytime phone)
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald