StrangeSights

It’s the end of the year and that means it’s time for annual lists.

• First among them is an annual favorite here at StrangeSights - the Merriam-Webster’s annual “word of the year” list. This year, the winner (as voted by visitors to MW’s website) was w00t. A gamer’s phrase it’s described as an interjection similar to “yay!” (it apparently derives from “We owned the other team”). Other popular choices include: facebook (as you’re reading this on the net, not explanation required. Oh, OK, it’s to do with the social networking website of the same name); blamestorm (”a meeting held in order to come up with a name of a person to assign guilt to a certain incident”), sardoodledom (apparently a “mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterisation in drama” - comes from the name of playwright Victorien Sardou apparently); and, pecksniffian (Pharisaical).

• Meanwhile, the winners of the “Wacky Warning Label Contest” have also been announced in the US. The winner was a sign on a tractor reading “Danger: Avoid Death”. Second place went to an iron-on T-shirt transfer that warns “Do not iron while wearing T-shirt” while third place awarded to a baby stroller which features a small storage pouch and comes with the warning “Do not put child in bag”!

Back shortly with some more…

Heard the one about the contest in England where being a liar is a good thing? Every year at The Bridge Inn pub in Santon Bridge, in Cumbria, England, a competition is held which sees someone crowned the World’s Greatest Liar.

This November John “Johnny Liar” Graham was apparently crowned with the title when he regaled audiences with a tale about a World War II German U-boat invading the UK to capture digital television decoders.

The competition pays homage to a 19th century publican know for his tall tales but it’s not the only contest of its kind in the UK - there’s a similar one run in Nottingham. Competitors in the Santon Bridge contest have five minutes to tell their lies without the use of props. Politicians and lawyers are barred from entering.