The Perfect Gift

In Smiths during the Christmas holiday I was surprised to discover that one of their main book categories is “Tragic Life Stories”. (I was looking – in vain – for the Science section.) What’s going on here? Schadenfreude? Simply relief that there are people even worse off than ourselves?

God forbid that there should be a happy ending anywhere…

T-shirt English

A couple of examples of Engrish spotted in a department store in Debrecen, Hungary. The first one says: “carefree” in black and ”You are enough, cool. Handsome anol hundred”

The Lolita bed

Woolworths’ pulling of its Lolita girls’ bed has attracted plenty of press attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The reporting is a little inaccurate. For example, the item was not just available online; it’s been in their catalogue for some time. The scan is from their Autumn 07 catalogue.

I have to say that compared with selling padded bras, dancing poles and lewd t-shirts to toddlers, this seems to me like a lot of (mildly amusing) fuss over nothing. How many children know or care what the brand name of their bed is?