HUMOUR

or, for those of us that can’t spel—

HUMOR

and now we’ve covered all bases in the once-was-English language. I love it, especially when I think back on the unpleasantness that was the fate of any poor wee kid that/who/wot misspelled a word or got the context/syntax/tintax or anything else wrong.

BUT HUMOUR

was inviolate—provided that it was ‘decent’.

Risqué (it means risky, but sounds posher) was best left for the educated and rebellious; and great lengths were taken to make sure it stayed on the north side of the divider between good and foul.

Foul was definitely for the lower classes and uneducated—for the toffs and for those who could turn a page subtlety was in. Children especially were to be kept north of the equator of decency; so of course anything referring to poops (euphemism for shit) or copulation (another euphemism, for fucking) was infra dig. (Or obscene, depending on the state of your extremities.)

YESTERDAY IN THE SUPERMARKET

I was doing the usual (pushing of the trolley whilst She Who Must Be Etc etc was shovelling stuff in—some of which I had me doubts about but as a married dog of long standing know when to not query) …

… and en passant by the greetings cards rack I noticed this 

and

—which reminded myself that

(a) it’s a sign of the times, and

b) not so much these days but not too long ago humour in New Zealand was only funny if it referred none too delicately to bodily parts normally concealed (or bodily functions likewise and/or reserved for privacy).

Make of it what we will, time marches along in fits and starts (and clichés, lest as Tennyson put it: “… one good custom should corrupt the world”).

YOU WANT ONE

of those cards?

Just send me your name, address, full credit card details (or a blank cheque) and I can pop along and get you some …

MISSING WORDS

can make 

ALL THE DIFFERENCE

and provide the missing accuracy. So, what are the ‘missing words’ in this snippet?

After the US’s spying on Germany was revealed, Obama apologised and told Merkel that his country would not eavesdrop on her again. The two eventually became close friends.

to read from source:  CLICK HERE 

So—what words do we think are missing?

If it were me, in the interests of accuracy I’d amend by alteration and insertion, such as—

“get caught” and “eavesdropping“

—apply them how you see fit.