All Roads Lead To Monaco?

The news agency Reuters disclosed on Wednesday, that 2 tourists travelling through Italy encountered quite a problem, on account of the Italian name given to a German city Munich, capital of Bavaria.

These 2 Dominican ladies had arranged to meet their 14 year old niece in Monaco. The romantic dreamland of Rainier, Grace Kelly, Caroline ... They had taken the car en Trento and, following the road signs that indicated Monaco di Baviera, drove through the Alps arriving in Munich. Once there, they went straight to the train station, to wait for the train from Paris, that should have brought their niece.

But the niece wasn't on the train she was supposed to be in, nor the next one. Why? Because, as was arranged and agreed previously, she was also waiting, but in Monaco, not in Munich. The ladies, not knowing that, in Italian, Munich is Monaco di Baviera. They had followed the wrong indications.

Like most known cities, Munich is called one name or another depending on which language spoken or written. The Bavarians call it Minga, in German it's Munchen (sorry, I don't have the option to put in the 2 dots on top of the U), in Portuguese is Munique, in Czechs is Mnichov I believe, in Polish is Monachium, in Catalan is Munic ... The 2 ladies sought police help, and was told what they had feared, that they were in a totally different country altogether. There's no alternative but to jumped back in their car, turned around and head south, a journey of more than 800 kilometre along the Mediterranean towards the Principality of Monaco.

One would have thought, and voices have been raised ever so often, that with the globalisation and the huge number of cross country travellers, traffic signs and indications should not be written in the local language only, but an international one or, at least that as well. There's no valid reason why the major cities of the world should accumulate so many different names. Why can't they be written as the original but pronounced according to the different language used?

I have written about the emergency call numbers before: 999 for England, 911 for America, 112 for Spain, etc. Why shouldn't there be an internationally unified number, so that when you are in a foreign land, you don't have to learn and remember another one, or two, or three, depending on how many countries your intended trip involves. Emergency surely means getting help in the shortest possible time and the simplest and easiest procedure. With the present diversity, by the time you find out the number, it's probably too late ... !!

Tags:Monaco,Munich,Emergency

• Current Mood: blah

Jokes For Me & Other Fools

Today is one of those days when I don't feel like doing anything remotely resembles work. So I thought I would just share a couple of laughs with you guys and be the fool on the day with other fools.

** How to get quick Police assistance

One night an elderly man George Phillips of Meridian Mississippi was just going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, because she could see it from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police who asked: "Is someone actually in your house?"

When he said no, the police said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and wait till an officer could go along when available. George said: "Okay", hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello," he said "I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." Then he hung up.

Within 5 minutes 3 police cars, an Armed Response Unit and an ambulance showed up at George's residence and caught the burglars red-handed. One of the policeman said to George:

"I thought you said that you had shot them?"

George said: "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

** The woman and the frog

A Woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods. She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap. The frog said to her, "If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes."
 
The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, "Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get 10 times more!"

The woman said, "That's okay." For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

The frog warned her, "You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to".

The woman replied, "That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful woman and he will have eyes only for me." So, KAZAM - she's the most beautiful woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world. The frog said, "That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you."

The woman said, "That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine." So, KAZAM - she's the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, "I'd like a mild heart attack."

** Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don't mess with them.
Attention female readers : This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and continue feeling good.

Male readers: Please scroll down.
The man had a heart attack ten times milder than his wife!
Moral of the story : Women are really dumb but think they're really smart.
Let them continue to think that way and just enjoy the show.

PS: If you are a woman and are still reading this; it only goes to show that women never listen!!!

** Only 3 men in history walked on water
The 1st one was Christ...
The 2nd one was the apostle, Peter ...
Then there was this guy, Jose ...

Tags: Police Robber Woman Frog Jose

• Current Mood: amused

Funny, Odd & Trivial Facts

** In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes. (Probably in centre of London, Rome, India & Shanghai too)

** It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis. (Wonder it's Okay out of the bottle or can?)

** A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.(Totally illogical the word even exist!)

** Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie. (Go ahead, you'll never get fat licking stamps)

** It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain church in Omaha, Nebraska (Help! How does one prevent it?)

** Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second. (Why the bother to count ? The red blood cells stay forever the same number)

** Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand. (Clever beasts)

** Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult. (Taxis in Japan too. Wise to take taxis in Japan & eat in Iceland to save money)

** The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad. (I would have thought Lee or Wong should outnumber any other)

** In Natoma, Kansas, it's illegal to throw knives at men wearing striped suits. (Okay to throw them at women or men wearing anything else?)

** Nearly all lipstick contains fish scales. (Thought it was whale blood)

** Almost half the newspapers in the world are published in the United States and Canada. (Do other countries commissioned all their papers to be printed in US & Canada?)

Tags:Funny,Odd,Trivial

• Current Mood: amused