DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• A milestone will be reached this year when a US man enters the 100,000th definition in his dictionary with a difference – every definition in the tome is written as a five line, rhyming limerick. Chris Stolin started the The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form (OEDILF) more than 10 years ago after joking about it on an online forum and it has since clocked up more than 97,000 definitions. About 1,000 writers contribute to the dictionary and Mr Stolin expects to hit 100,000 sometime this year. But there’s still a long way to go – the dictionary currently ends at the word ‘gizzard’ with the current estimated finish time, 25th September, 2076.
Mario Kart re-enactors are facing a crackdown in Japan after safety concerns. PICTURE: Oskar Krawczyk/Unsplash
• Mario’s been making a mess in Japan. The nation is reportedly moving to crackdown on ‘Mario Kart’ drivers – requiring them to wear a seatbelt as well as improving safety features on their go-karts – after a spate of accidents. Such is the fascination with the Nintendo video game in Japan that there are numerous services which offer the chance to dress up as characters and ride a go-kart through the streets. From March they’ll just have to be more careful.
• Former British PM Margaret Thatcher refused to share her concord with a panda, according to UK documents released this week. The papers, released by the National Archives, reportedly reveal that when the PM was asked by the president of the London Zoological Society if she would allow space on the flight to Washington DC (and her first summit with then US President Ronald Reagan) for Chia Chia, she said no, noting “Pandas and politicians are not happy omens”. The zoo president, Solly Zuckerman, was keen to loan the panda to the Smithsonian Institute so it could mate with a female there and believed it flying on the same plane as the PM would have strengthened relations between the two nations.
