· January, 2008

Stories about Humor from January, 2008

The difference between Senegal and China

  31 January 2008

Blog politique au Senegal explains the difference between Senegal and China [Fr]: “Aside from the obvious differences like the color of their skin, the enormous disparity in the size of their populations, their respective demographic differences, I also know that there exists another fundamental difference…Us, we play football, we dream...

Latvia: Law Firm's Name Change Attempt

  29 January 2008

Can you imagine a law firm with a name like this: “Viss mainījies skaļi klusēja migla virs pļavām aiz upes un jenotiņš to sajuta tik skaidri ka aizrāvās elpa un nosvīda uz ceļgaliem rātni uzliktās ķepiņas.” Latvian authorities cannot, either, according to Latvian Abroad.

The Balkans: “Jestdej”

  24 January 2008

Sleeping with Pengovsky posts a copy of the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ – spelled phonetically by Croatian musicians: “… For all of you native speakers out there – if you ever wondered how English sounds to people from the Balkans – take a look at the above picture. It just doesn’t get...

Venezuela: Blogger Picks Political “Oops” Moments

  23 January 2008

Venezuela faced plenty of controversies in 2007, with some of its principal political actors finding ways to stick their foots in their mouths. Blogger More Baker looks back and picks her favorite "oops" moments of 2007, with their accompanying memorable phrases.

Serbia: The Presidential Election

  23 January 2008

The presidential election in Serbia was held on Jan. 20. The Republic's Electoral Commission confirmed that the Serb Radical Party's candidate Tomislav Nikolic beat the other nine candidates. He received 39.4 percent of the votes, followed by Boris Tadic, the current Serbian president, who got 35.42 percent.

China: T-shirt with Chinese Character

  21 January 2008

Alpar shows a t-shirt with Chinese characteristic, with slogans and pictures of eight prides and eight shames, harmonious society, city management teams’ violence (zh).

Ukraine: Crimean Politicians

  18 January 2008

Orange Ukraine writes on how Crimean politicians “are asking for testing of Ukrainian language to be conducted in Russian” – or else they wouldn't let the country's PM enter the peninsula.

Peru: Wendy Sulca, Child Video Sensation

  18 January 2008

From Peru, 10 year old Wendy Sulca is quickly becoming an internet sensation. Her folkloric videos have viewers discussing children´s rights, what it means to be Peruvian and whether or not children should sing about certain topics.

The Baltics: Missing the Borders

  17 January 2008

Latvian Abroad notes that the lack of borders in the Schengen Zone can be quite a nuisance: “A woman from rural Lithuania tries to catch a ride to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. A miscommunication with the driver leads to … her being dropped off in Tartu, Estonia!”

Belarus, Russia: Minsk-Murmansk Train

  16 January 2008

The post translated below features a photo of a note pasted on the Minsk-Murmansk train - a note that's supposed to assist passengers in locating cars they've got tickets for, but is instead a great illustration of how easily something mundane may turn into the frustratingly surreal in this part of the world.