Eagle-eyed Simpsons' viewers may have noticed that a list of students at Bart`s school included a Cosine Tangent, writes Peter Riley of Penrith. "But the average teacher these days wouldn`t even bat an eyelid ... Cosine Tangent sounds pretty normal."
"I saw an employee dusting the pumpkins at Coles. What next?" asks Dinah Holden of Lindfield. "Buffing the bananas, brushing the broccoli, shining the shallots, mopping the mange tout, and polishing the parsnips perhaps?"
"I don't know about proactive (C8). For me the word 'cameo' is the most over-used by the Big Bash commentators," writes Philip Cooney of Wentworth Falls.
Back to that cover-up issue (C8), Pam Valentine of Liverpool's pet packaging peeve is threefold at the pharmacy. "Eye drops and tablets already packed in a bottle or foil wrap and a cardboard package are then sold to us in a plastic bag. Two wrappers is more than enough.
On matters definitive, Ian Grant of Mount Victoria points out: "Regarding 'the', the Dutch name for 'The' Netherlands is simply Nederland, no 'De'. Holland only applies to the western provinces." And Christopher Jobson observes: "Calling The Netherlands Holland is like calling Australia Victoria."
Howard Moffitt of Winston Hills winced when he heard a Sydney racing station announce that Badajox had won race 8 in a photo finish on Saturday, giving "English jockey J Doyle four winners for the day – and he has been gelded since we last saw him".
Elaine Malicki of Turramurra often speaks of the "cluckophany" emanating from her henhouse. But her favourite collective noun (C8) is for jellyfish - a "smuck". "How beautifully onomatopoeic." Meanwhile, Tom Erickson of Chatswood vaguely recalls a legend about kookaburras being obliged to wake the sun up and then tell it when to go to bed. "Can any C8 reader remind me of the rest of the story?"
What to do with those old Christmas cards? John Greenway's appeal worked. Samaritan's Purse has taken his old cards for children to use, while Julie Brown of Neutral Bay says she always bundles her old cards together and sends them to the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Eric Scott of Bondi Junction points out that the original words to Chattanooga Choo Choo (C8) made no mention of Roy. It was substituted many years later because "boy" was considered racist.
Finally, when it comes to killer pitches, Mary Haire of Annandale offers this Hunter region real estate spin: "Whisper quiet location." The property faces a graveyard.
Twitter: @Column8SMH
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