“Re: John Swanton’s query on arm danglers (C8), I remember my father telling me that a family friend lost his dangling arm when hit by a passing car,” says Carole Dawes of Randwick. “This cured me of ever wanting to dangle my arm out the window, and wasn’t it illegal in the dark ages when I learnt to drive in the late ’70s, (1970s that is, not 1870s)?”
Caz Willis of Bowral thinks it was a smokers’ thing: “To prevent ash falling inside the car back in the days when people threw ash and butts out the window, before the realisation that this caused grass fires and bushfires.”
And Col Burns of Lugarno thinks it’s most likely an Audi thing: “I consider the dangling arm to be a warning that the operator of the vehicle is far too cool to be utilising that limb for such tedious tasks as the use of the indicator.”
Despite their first game being more than three years away, the highly qualified Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook has a strong opinion on what we should call the new PNG NRL team: “Having been the Secretary/Treasurer for the Western Highlands Rugby League at Mount Hagen countless years ago, I wanted to suggest a name for the new team – The PNG Sunbirds. Why the Sunbirds? The bird of paradise is symbolic of PNG and features on its flag.”
“A word that’s fallen out of use over the years is ‘Trumpery’ which means: showy but worthless, delusive, shallow,” notes Ruth Turner of Grays Point. “Am I right in thinking it might undergo a resurgence in relevance and popularity?”
Nola Tucker of Kiama serves up a defence of Tennis Albo (C8): “We should be pleased our PM is indulging in a spot of tennis. He’s keeping to the Latin motto we learned in school: ‘Mens sano in corpore sano’.” Wolf Kempa of Lithgow has other concerns: “Respectfully please, a limit to comments that might make Dutton appear to be a reasonable alternative.”
Today’s Putin paean (C8) comes from Richard Stewart of Pearl Beach:
Upsetting Putin not hunky-dory,
As a fall from a building you’ll get surely,
Nothing short, and not small,
He ensures that your fall,
Always never less than eight stories.
Richard has a positive attitude and is a joy to teach. While he has hit the brief here, he needs to work on his rhyme scheme.
Granny.
Column8@smh.com.au
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