London is slightly less debilitatingly expensive this year, it's Christmas in August and chavs inducted...
Welcome to today's unintentionally Brit-centric newscast...aren't you glad that I'm using all my copious free-time this month to shower you with not-particularly-useful bits of news trivia, rather than determine my future? Thought so.
According to the Economist's bi-annual Worldwide Cost of Living survey, London has dropped two places to become the eighth costliest city in the world, while Reykjavik jumps from eighth to fourth and Tokyo retains its stranglehold on the number one spot ($5 liter of mineral water, anyone?). And sorry, New Yorkers, but you've got nothing to gripe about - the Big Apple only came in at #35, behind pricier cities such as Wellington, Barcelona and Seoul.
Father Christmas has arrived at Harrods in what is rapidly becoming a frightening tradition at the Knightsbridge store - the opening of the "Christmas World" department a scant 137 days ahead of the holy holiday. Not only can sunburned, bermuda shorts wearing rolly-polly tourists pick up some fancy tree baubles, but they can also get a head start on unique gifts for the kids: "Harrods are offering (for only £229) a typical Barbie doll, in a frilly scarlet dress with fluffy shoulder pads, long scarlet gloves and a parting to show a pair of very shapely legs. When you look at the head, however, it's a reindeer. It's the sort of thing Hunter S Thompson saw on particularly heavy acid trips."
Ruby Murray, anyone? The Oxford Dictionary of English has been updated once again to reflect our ever-widening (let's just not address the issue of depth) language. "Chav" has finally weasled its way in as "a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the waering of [real or imitation] designer clothes." "Lush" is no longer just the name of a company that started in Dorset and makes fabulously luxuriant bath products, but has been generalized to describe anything "very good." My favorite addition may be "chugger" - a mixture of charity and mugger to describe those annoying pimply young people in polo shirts who monopolize street corners whilst soliciting you to save children, puppies and/or old people. As the BBC points out, "Researchers said the dictionary now included 350 ways of insulting someone, but only 40 expressions to compliment them."
According to the Economist's bi-annual Worldwide Cost of Living survey, London has dropped two places to become the eighth costliest city in the world, while Reykjavik jumps from eighth to fourth and Tokyo retains its stranglehold on the number one spot ($5 liter of mineral water, anyone?). And sorry, New Yorkers, but you've got nothing to gripe about - the Big Apple only came in at #35, behind pricier cities such as Wellington, Barcelona and Seoul.
Father Christmas has arrived at Harrods in what is rapidly becoming a frightening tradition at the Knightsbridge store - the opening of the "Christmas World" department a scant 137 days ahead of the holy holiday. Not only can sunburned, bermuda shorts wearing rolly-polly tourists pick up some fancy tree baubles, but they can also get a head start on unique gifts for the kids: "Harrods are offering (for only £229) a typical Barbie doll, in a frilly scarlet dress with fluffy shoulder pads, long scarlet gloves and a parting to show a pair of very shapely legs. When you look at the head, however, it's a reindeer. It's the sort of thing Hunter S Thompson saw on particularly heavy acid trips."
Ruby Murray, anyone? The Oxford Dictionary of English has been updated once again to reflect our ever-widening (let's just not address the issue of depth) language. "Chav" has finally weasled its way in as "a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the waering of [real or imitation] designer clothes." "Lush" is no longer just the name of a company that started in Dorset and makes fabulously luxuriant bath products, but has been generalized to describe anything "very good." My favorite addition may be "chugger" - a mixture of charity and mugger to describe those annoying pimply young people in polo shirts who monopolize street corners whilst soliciting you to save children, puppies and/or old people. As the BBC points out, "Researchers said the dictionary now included 350 ways of insulting someone, but only 40 expressions to compliment them."
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