comedy – Shanghai Metal Corporation

‘Everything But The Kitchen Sink’ – British Slang Translated

Have you ever hung out with a British friend and laughed along with the joke, but just didn’t quite get it? You two may technically speak the same language, but when they use British slang it all goes out of the door.

Well, here are the main British slang phrases that I’m sure sounded like gibberish at the time but will now become crystal clear:

I’m not being funny but…- not to be rude, a precursor to an insult to soften the blow usually

Lost the plot – gone crazy

Cheers –an informal thank you

Quid – 1 unit of currency

Taking the pee/mick – mocking, taking advantage of someone

Sorry – very casually used, doesn’t always mean an apology

Dodgy – suspicious

Sick – Cool

Deep – Can mean either harsh or profound

Everything but the kitchen sink = every resource possible was used

Speaking of, Shanghai Metal produces stainless steel kitchen sinks at manufacturer prices. As an ISO 14001 (International Quality Management System) Company and recipient of the “Star Enterprise Award,” Shanghai Metal Corporation prides itself on exceeding international standards of quality and reliability.

We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery – our English speaking personnel will be more than please to help you. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Sources: BBC America, Urban Dictionary, Anglotopia

Siobhan R.// SMC Editor

Humor Through The Ages And Why It Changes Over Time

Why does our sense of humor change over time? At one point in our lives, armpit farting noises were the pinnacle of hilarity. At age five, nothing else could possibly top it. For some of us, nothing ever will. But for most people, what strikes us as funny changes drastically over time. There are also great spatial variations. What’s funny in one country will silence a room in another. Let’s have a look at what our ancient ancestors found funny:

Egyptians

“How do you entertain a bored pharaoh?”

“You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish.”

Egyptians maintain their political satire to this day with the following quip:

“Nasser was killed by poison, Sadat by a bullet and Mubarak by Facebook,”

Greeks

One ancient Greek idiot joke reads: “An idiot, wanting to go to sleep but not having a pillow, told his slave to set an earthen jar under his head. The slave said that the jug was hard. The idiot told him to fill it with feathers.”

There are also the comic insults, listed so as to be used in instant one-line put downs – “You don’t have a face, but a fireplace” reads one. But my particular favorites are the ‘doctor’ jokes: “A person went to a doctor and said “doctor, whenever I get up from sleeping, I’m groggy for a half an hour afterwards and only after that am I all right” To which the doctor replied: “Get up half an hour later.”

Romans

Another of the jokes – said to be dated to 248AD when Rome held what was billed as the ‘Millennium Games’ – tells the story of a distraught athlete.’

Never mind,’ says a spectator. ‘You can always try again at the next Millennium Games.’

There is also an ancient version of the Monty Python dead parrot sketch.

It reads: ‘A man buys a slave, who dies soon after. When he complains, the slave seller replies, “Well, he didn’t die when I owned him”.’

So humor is a static concept, changing due to circumstance and audience. Or maybe its due to a maturing appreciation for humor. Ultimately, humor is subjective, and is up to the individual to form.

This particular Roman joke was found in a 1,700 year old book during a metal detecting excavation in the UK, along with clay pots and old coins. Amateur metal detecting is said to make up 90% of all archeological finds, as our article about The Law of Finders Keepers described. Metal detectors are relatively easy and cheap to get your hands on, and are made of hardwearing stainless steel so you can continue your hobby for years.

Shanghai Metal manufactures value added stainless steel products similar to those mentioned. As an ISO 14001 (International Quality Management System) Company and recipient of the “Star Enterprise Award,” Shanghai Metal Corporation prides itself on exceeding international standards of quality and reliability. We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Sources: Daily Mail, Curiousity Discovery, History Extra, Smithsonian Magazine, Splitsider, BBC

Siobhan R.// SMC Editor

Woman Addicted To Eating Mattresses

The TV show ‘My Strange Addiction’ seeks to find the most obscure obsessions – chocolate and cigarettes just won’t cut it here. So during their two-hour premiere event, viewers were introduced to Jennifer. For more than two decades, Jennifer has been eating mattresses. She said that she ate about a square foot of mattress each day.

“I start out with the good stuff. The good stuff to me is the pillow-top itself,” Jennifer

She admittedly only eats until she reaches the springs, or when it ‘starts to smell funny’. Doctors have advised Jennifer that she would die if she continued – to her surprise. While it was a serious health matter, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Hiltbrand couldn’t resist joking, “We would have thought a steady diet of mattress would make you drowsy.” She has since vowed to stop at the concern of her family.

Shanghai Metal manufactures the stainless steel wire used in mattresses –edible or otherwise. As an ISO 14001 (International Quality Management System) Company and recipient of the “Star Enterprise Award,” Shanghai Metal Corporation prides itself on exceeding international standards of quality and reliability. We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Sources: Huffington Post, My Strange Addiction

Siobhan R.// SMC Editor

Shakespeare Reborn in Container Theaters

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly follow’d. –a Quotation from Shakespeare’s Othello

The modularity of shipping containers enables creative architects to design beautiful container homes and hotels. Open top containers can be turned into swimming pools. Open side containers can become excellent theaters.

In 2013 a local architecture studio O+A designed the architectural setting of the 20th Over het IJ Festival and transformed Amsterdam’s shipyard into a huge restaurant area with theatrical stages. The building of the “container city” took four days, and another two days to take down, lasting only two weeks in between.

Shipping containers theaters have also been used in Miami. In 2012, the actors of Microteatro por Dinero performed in 15 minute short dramas for 15 people six times a night in a shipping container. The concept of “por dinero performance” (in English for money) has its roots in Madrid where local actors turned an old bordello into a commercial mini theater and spread the word in social media.

Besides drama, shipping containers have also been used as movie theaters. Container mini theaters showed short films in New York in 2011. The event was a part of USA Network’s Character Project and it also was supported by the director of the Alien Saga, Ridley Scott. Audience was placed in 18-seat air conditioned screening pods to watch the shorts. The tour also took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

It is yet unclear when does this “Broadway in a box” concept spread globally and go mainstream. Still, because of these events, mobile mini theaters will gain popularity in cinema and drama industries.

Whenever there is a need for shipping containers, one should always contact Shanghai Metal Corporation. Our wide collection of shipping containers can help companies to pack great entertainment in a box. For more information about our shipping containers, please visit our website (http://www.smccontainer.com). Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: WLRN, N-punto, Broadway World, Gizmag, Wired, Miami New Times, Inhabitat, Oplusa.nl