Funny/Strange News Stories

Crazy Taylor
Man drive most un-roadworthy car I Norfolk. Link BBC News
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....Such things might come across as bizarre in Europe, but cars with pliers acting as steering wheels used to be rather common in African mass transport community, otherwise known as minibus taxis. Most of these taxis - 70s and 80s Toyota Hi-Ace minivans - have been replaced with more modern metal in recent years, so the "prevalence of plier steering wheel" has all but disappeared from the public consciousness now. Which didn't do much towards the overall traffic accident statistics, but still, it's better than nothing, I suppose.
 
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/15/politics/paraglider-arrest-trump-turnberry/index.html

As an avid golfer that may one day make it to Turnberry, I cannot help but laugh at the irony of flying a banner and trying to be critical of a golfing President by calling him "under par". For those of you non-golfers out there, under par is good in golf, very good in fact, it's the entire purpose of the game, so if you he really wanted to make a statement and not look like a buffoon he might have flown a banner that said Trump was the 35 handicap of Presidents or called him Double Bogey Trump. Trying to insult a golfer on a golf course by calling him under par reminds me of this:

1*PpqTJjvrNYYukTih-z50ow.png
 
Johnnypenso
As an avid golfer that may one day make it to Turnberry, I cannot help but laugh at the irony of flying a banner and trying to be critical of a golfing President by calling him "under par". For those of you non-golfers out there, under par is good in golf, very good in fact, it's the entire purpose of the game, so if you he really wanted to make a statement and not look like a buffoon he might have flown a banner that said Trump was the 35 handicap of Presidents or called him Double Bogey Trump. Trying to insult a golfer on a golf course by calling him under par reminds me of this:
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As an avid speaker of the English language,* I cannot help but laugh at the irony of golfers believing that their use of par represents the sole and complete usage of the word in common English. For those of you non-English-speakers out there 'par' is the accepted, adequate level of quality in a subject, Calling President Trump 'below par' is a splendid witticism based on a wide and ironic understanding of Englishing.

Attempted appropriation of the word 'par' for exclusively golf-based meaning reminds me of this:

golf.jpg


*Deliberate, comedic comma
 
Like the golfer in @Ten's cartoon I've been treed by his comment. Somehow I don't think the protester was complimenting Trump on his golf game. Only someone attempting to impart a good deal of spin would consider that a fairway to interpret this incident IMO.
 
TenEightyOne
As an avid speaker of the English language,* I cannot help but laugh at the irony of golfers believing that their use of par represents the sole and complete usage of the word in common English. For those of you non-English-speakers out there 'par' is the accepted, adequate level of quality in a subject, Calling President Trump 'below par' is a splendid witticism based on a wide and ironic understanding of Englishing.

Attempted appropriation of the word 'par' for exclusively golf-based meaning reminds me of this:

View attachment 751352

*Deliberate, comedic comma
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I'd say the fact the he was flying over a golf course, one of the greatest in the world, owned by the leader of the free world who also happens to own several world class golf courses, who happens to be an avid golfer, while he was playing golf, kind of points to the irony of calling him subpar...on a golf course.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...im-into-supporting-arming-toddlers-with-guns/

Hahahahaha

“The NRA wants to arm the teachers. This is crazy. They should be arming the children,” Cohen as Morad says, before introducing his (fake) new program called “Kinderguardians.” The program would arm children as young as 3 and train them to use the weapons against “naughty men.” He makes it clear that 3 is the age limit, however, because “they don’t call them the terrible twos for nothing.”
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Hahaha
 
Johnnypenso
I'd say the fact the he was flying over a golf course, one of the greatest in the world, owned by the leader of the free world who also happens to own several world class golf courses, who happens to be an avid golfer, while he was playing golf, kind of points to the irony of calling him subpar...on a golf course.
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I'm sure you would but I think this is a case of different strokes for different folks. The protester's remark succeeds in a general context which is the one in which most neutral observers would view it. Were he to use purely golfing terminology on his banner most of his intended audience would misinterpret his message as thoroughly as you seem to have here.

I guess the possibility that a minority of short sighted golfers might club together and attempt to see his banner as anything other than denigratory is his albatross to bear but the fact remains that words and phrases have a wider context outside of one specific sport and it's that context he was swinging at with the slogan.
 
The fact that the deliberately golf-themed wordplay on that banner will be generally interpreted as critical according to the common understanding of "below par" yet would actually be a compliment if read in the context of a golf game is the irony. That's the joke. There's no need to dissect it just because you have a rough history with each other or regard @Johnnypenso as a bogey-man of your political conversations.
 
Wolfe
The fact that the deliberately golf-themed wordplay on that banner will be generally interpreted as critical according to the common understanding of "below par" yet would actually be a compliment if read in the context of a golf game is the irony. That's the joke. There's no need to dissect it just because you have a rough history with each other or regard @Johnnypenso as a bogey-man of your political conversations.
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I'm not sure why people who dissect jokes shouldn't expect their own posts to be subject to dissection. Irony is one thing but the insistence on portraying this as a massive failure of intellect on the protester's part doesn't really sit well with some of us.
 
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Wolfe
The fact that the deliberately golf-themed wordplay on that banner will be generally interpreted as critical according to the common understanding of "below par" yet would actually be a compliment if read in the context of a golf game is the irony. That's the joke. There's no need to dissect it just because you have a rough history with each other or regard @Johnnypenso as a bogey-man of your political conversations.
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Yes, exactly. Since I posted in here I've wandered into the wilds of the comment sections of various articles on the subject and there are a great many references to the same irony I pointed out so I'm at least safe in knowing I'm not alone:lol:.
 
UKMikey
Irony is one thing but the insistence on portraying this as a massive failure of intellect on the protester's part doesn't really sit well with some of us.
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In fairness, I do think there was a particular massive failure of intellect on the part of the protester at play here:

turn1.png


That Trump hasn't taken to Twitter to cry for their unceremonious dismissal over not pulling the trigger (figuratively and literally) is astonishing to me.
 
TexRex
In fairness, I do think there was a particular massive failure of intellect on the part of the protester at play here:

turn1.png


That Trump hasn't taken to Twitter to cry for their unceremonious dismissal over not pulling the trigger (figuratively and literally) is astonishing to me.
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Has the bloke at the top, got his gun pointed at himself?
 
Wolfe
The fact that the deliberately golf-themed wordplay on that banner will be generally interpreted as critical according to the common understanding of "below par" yet would actually be a compliment if read in the context of a golf game is the irony. That's the joke. There's no need to dissect it just because you have a rough history with each other or regard @Johnnypenso as a bogey-man of your political conversations.
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Exactly. It's hard to imagine a golfer thinking of this any other way. I've mentioned it to half a dozen golfers in the last couple of days and they all had the same reaction. "They know under par is good in golf right?"...or words to that effect.
 
TexRex
:odd:

How is it you managed to respond twice to the exact same instance of someone speaking for someone else and on neither occasion refer to it as whiteknighting?

Oh, probably because this particular knight came to your aid rather than the aid of those with whom you disagree. How very...







...expected.
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I believe it's called a mistake or forgetfullness. After 30,000+ posts it's bound to happen.
 
Obelisk
Can you take a breather, Tex? This is the Funny/Strange News thread. I don't think anyone wants things to get heated in here.

Anyways, to keep the news rolling.
Woman finds iPhone without any damage after dropping it 1,000 feet.
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Cell phones are surprisingly durable these days. My old reliable Samsung S5 has been dropped numerous times in all kinds of unsavoury conditions and keeps on ticking. I Otter know better than to be so careless with my phone.:sly:
 
Johnnypenso
Cell phones are surprisingly durable these days. My old reliable Samsung S5 has been dropped numerous times in all kinds of unsavoury conditions and keeps on ticking. I Otter know better than to be so careless with my phone.:sly:
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My ZTE is one of those odd ducks that just seem a lot harder to break under normal circumstances. God knows how many times I've dropped it with nothing more than a mild ding on the body.
 

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