(I’m off sick with a really nasty cough for the second day in a row, so I’m pushing this out a day earlier than planned ‘cos I’m bored)<\/p>\n
So as regular readers know, every Friday, more or less, I choose my favourite comments from this blog (and my favourite posts I\u2019ve read on other blogs), and list them in the sidebar under the title Bragging Rights Central. In December I go through the archives,\u00a0tally the wins<\/a>\u00a0(congratulations again to Ricardipus (most mentions for best comment, for the second year running) and Steve Caplan (most mentions for best post)!), pick my favourite comments of the year, and let my readers vote for the winner.<\/p>\n This is no easy task \u2013 I\u2019m lucky enough to have some amazingly funny and insightful commenters, and it\u2019s sometimes hard enough to choose the best comments of the week, let alone the whole year! I had to cut some really, really great comments from my This year\u2019s 12 choices are below, and you\u00a0 But first:<\/p>\n THE RULES<\/strong><\/p>\n THE COMMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n (in alphabetical order by commenter’s first name):<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0Bean-Mom<\/a> for “it\u2019s surprising the gaps in knowledge highly educated people can have. One of my favorite examples: one morning during his medical residency, my husband got a telephone call from a colleague. Afterward, he just kept shaking his head. His colleague, another medical doctor in her pediatric residency, had dropped her hairdryer into the toilet that morning. She unplugged it, but she was now staring at the thing, afraid to touch it because she thought the toilet water might be \u201celectrified\u201d and she was wondering when it would be safe to fish it out. She had called two other colleagues previous to my husband, and neither of them had a clue. Three people, all of whom had gotten through college and medical school.”<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0Beth Snow<\/a> for “Any time I get an email with \u201cgentle reminder\u201d in it, I picture the person who sent it red-faced and screaming \u201cWTF is wrong with you???!!! Why haven\u2019t you sent me that [insert item name] that I already asked you for 17 times???!!!\u201d”<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0Eva<\/a> for “The world is a lab, but the gel is badly cast.”<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0John the Plumber<\/a>\u00a0for “Has this layman got it right Cath?<\/p>\n Neither the originators of the \u2018high\u2019 science, nor those who peer review it, are capable of presenting it in an understandable way, so they employ you, who must both understand the unpresentable, then present it understandably, in order to get funding from those who would otherwise find it incomprehensible \u2013 so your value to both science and laymen is inestimable.”<\/p>\n 5)\u00a0John the Plumber<\/a> for “wouldn’t it be more sympathetic to use lemmings as the laboratory animal of choice to be < alive. Whilst it might be a misconception that lemmings like to commit suicide, I’ve yet to find a truly suicidal mouse, \u2013 On the subject of mortality, it’s disappointing to learn from Mike that Stieg Larsson has died. As a dyslexic myself, I found comfort groaning at his sentences which he wrote with a hardened steel roller ball pen, puchased from the shop next door to Ikea, straight after he had bought his walnut topped desk with the oak legs, on his way to the library. The librarian, a most helpful blonde haired woman, dutifully sought the book he required, explaining that her hobby was knitting and that she always had two hardboiled eggs for breakfast at the Umqvist Cafe on Sodemalstrada. Now I feel guilty about the whole thing.”<\/p>\n 6)\u00a0Mike<\/a>\u00a0for ““Some people are still getting used to the way in which us Brits speak to each other, in particular the use of insults to show affection”<\/em><\/p>\n No we don\u2019t. Idiot.”<\/p>\n 7)\u00a0Mike<\/a>\u00a0for “I\u2019m pretty sure the tickle monster sign is actually a warning: \u201cDanger! Canadians aren\u2019t quite as good at the Gay Gordons as they think they are.””<\/p>\n 8)\u00a0Nina<\/a> for “NZ celebrates \u201cthe queen\u2019s birthday\u201d too. But always on a Monday, because otherwise what is the fun of a dead queen\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n My Spanish colleague was equally confused when me and a German colleague tried to explain 2 long weekends to her. A few weeks back was ANZAC day, which is something like memorial day for Aussie and NZ. There is also an ANZAC Biscuit (which the girls used to sent to the boys at the front). So My German colleague said \u201cYou know, ANZAC, like the biscuit\u201d. To which the Spanish lady answered \u201cA holiday for a cookie, and one for a queen that is not there anymore and not on her real birthday either. It\u2019s fine by me, but I don\u2019t understand\u201d.”<\/p>\n 9)\u00a0Richard Wintle<\/a> for “Completenes. The ancient Greek god of proofreading.”<\/p>\n 10)\u00a0ScientistMother<\/a>\u00a0for “Like Nina my non-Christianity knowledge meant I was completely oblivious to the fact that the lion was supposed to be Jesus. Apparently its a \u201cknown\u201d incarnation.<\/p>\n But seriously Lions are the symbol of Sikh men. Singh means lion in sanskrit and is the middle name of almost all Punjabi males (my hubby and son incl). Really, I grew up thinking the aslan was a kick ass punjabi sikh. Fuck Jesus. Maybe [CS Lewis] needs to realize that the lion can be whoever the fuck we want him to be.”<\/p>\n 11)\u00a0Stephen Curry<\/a> for “\u201cA His-tag!?!\u201d”<\/p>\n 12)\u00a0Sylvia McLain<\/a> for “ICK Cath \u2013 all I can say is I think that is the worst thing we have to do \u2013 I hate end of grant reports \u2013 its like showing your mom your grade card \u2013 yuck”<\/p>\n THE POLL<\/strong><\/p>\n Click here to vote<\/a> – THANK YOU!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (I’m off sick with a really nasty cough for the second day in a row, so I’m pushing this out a day earlier than planned ‘cos I’m bored) So as regular readers know, every Friday, more or less, I choose … Continue reading not very<\/del> short list, and as always I’m really sorry not to be able to include everyone.<\/p>\nshoul<\/del>d can click through to the original posts to read the comments in context. This may be more important for some comments than others… I’m looking at Prof Curry in particular!<\/p>\n\n