Tag Archives: fun

A Practical Joke

Funny Stuff, Students' Corner

According to the definition of the Wikipedia a practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. The term “practical” refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something (a practice), rather than a verbal or written joke.
In Western culture, April Fools’ Day is a day traditionally dedicated to performing practical jokes. Another day common for pranks and practical jokes is Halloween, in the form of Trick ot Treat.
And… I fell prey to practical jokers, namely , my closest friends. . I’ll tell you what happened.

It was Christmas time and I had decided to invite my friends for dinner on New Year’s Eve. They were about 14 people .My friends tried to put me off the idea of celebrating at home because they thought it was going to be too much work for me. But I happily told them that I was going to have everything delivered to me by the Corte Inglés Catering Service.So, I called this company and agreed on the menu and on having it delivered on the afternoon of the 31st .And I proudly told my friends that I had everything under control. Silly of me!
On the morning of that very same day I got a phone call, very businesslike by the way, where a very professional voice, or so it seemed to me, asked to talk to Ms Cabal and told me that she was going to put me through the Catering Department of El Corte Inglés. I thought it was to confirm the delivery time. To my surprise , I was told that my menu could not be delivered as I had failed to book it within the deadline. Politely, I told them I had phoned them within the right period but they apologised and said it couldn’t be done. The more I tried to convince them, the angrier I got until finally I threatened to sue them. I was so angry and frustrated. I asked to talk to whoever was in charge of The Customer’s Service .When they put me through and I started to complain I heard people laughing. It had all been a practical joke from my friends phoning from the office they work in and everybody in the office had listened to me as they had set the phone in the hands-free mode and about 10 people were laughing at my frustration.
What about you? Have you ever played a practical joke on someone or maybe been the victim of one?

The English Language

The English language,

Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language?
Let’s face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.
We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
If writers write, how come fingers don’t fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn’t the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn’t the preacher praught.
If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!
English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn’t a race at all)
That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndro…

Funny Stuff, The English language, ,

….bwllllantysiliogogogoch
I was 14 ,and staying in England, the first time I heard this word. We were a group of teenagers attending classes from 9.00 to 13.00 and we really needed some funny breaks in-between the sometimes tedious lessons.
So I remember the teacher challenged us to try to give her the longest word we could think of, and I offered the popular ” supercalifragilisticoespialidoso”. Well, I was pretty sure nobody could beat me there but then she said she had an even longer one.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch .
Phew!!!
She was at pains to write it and… to pronounce it.
But what is this long name? What does it stand for?
It is the name of a village on the island of Anglesey in North Wales ; in fact, it’s one of the most-photographed places in North Wales and it has been officially recognised as one of the longest words in the world, but it cannot be considered an authentic Welsh toponym as it was made up in the 1860s to give the railway station the longest name of any railway station in the UK to mainly attract visitors . And this early publicity stunt has worked as thousands of visitors visit this place every year.

By the way, this toponym has a meaning: “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave”.

Want to have a go at pronouncing it?llanfair.mp3

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Now, there is some homework , what do you call the people living in this tiny picturesque village?