Topic: Weird stories thread

[Jiminy Cricket]

If you ever say 'staycation'

It doesn't even make sense that American's use the phrase 'staycation', since for most of them, it is always a 'staycation'.*

* Only about a third of US citizens hold a valid passport. I understand that the figure was nearer 10% 25 years ago.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/804430/us-citzens-owning-a-passport/

[rob1966]

It doesn't even make sense that American's use the phrase 'staycation', since for most of them, it is always a 'staycation'.*

* Only about a third of US citizens hold a valid passport. I understand that the figure was nearer 10% 25 years ago.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/804430/us-citzens-owning-a-passport/

True.

Must admit though, I can see why so few travel abroad seeing how the country offers almost every type of holiday you could ask for.

[Jiminy Cricket]

True.

Must admit though, I can see why so few travel abroad seeing how the country offers almost every type of holiday you could ask for.

And I've made the same point myself in conversations over years. We should also factor in the huge distance most Americans must travel to get abroad. Practically, you are only going to drive across the Canadian or Mexican boarders if reasonably close (and, that's no longer advisable - it is risky - for much of the Mexican boarder these days). But, it is also attitude - I would have said that's slowly changing before Trump.

[Red Beret]

True.

Must admit though, I can see why so few travel abroad seeing how the country offers almost every type of holiday you could ask for.

True.  When it comes to holidaying abroad, I think it's largely going to be Americans on the coasts.  I've done a road trip in the US, and there is a hella lot to see that I think most foreigners would miss.  It's not exactly off the beaten track but it takes a lot of planning.

It was Sesame Street and the Muppet Show when I was a toddler. Plenty of heated debates about trash cans vs bins and so on.

It's cute seeing some of the vids of American toddlers doing full on British accents.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is called Adventures and Naps.  A Canadian lass who has lived most of the past five years in Kent.  She freely admits she's picked up a lot of British-isms, but also says there's stuff she would never say because it just sounds dumb in her accent.

[Mumm-Ra]

It doesn't even make sense that American's use the phrase 'staycation', since for most of them, it is always a 'staycation'.*

* Only about a third of US citizens hold a valid passport. I understand that the figure was nearer 10% 25 years ago.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/804430/us-citzens-owning-a-passport/

The term staycation, as I understand it, is for when people stay at a hotel in their own city. Like someone from the suburbs of Chicago staying at a hotel downtown. If you go to another city/state, it crosses that boundary into vacation-land.

[Zeb]

One of my favourite YouTube channels is called Adventures and Naps.  A Canadian lass who has lived most of the past five years in Kent.  She freely admits she's picked up a lot of British-isms, but also says there's stuff she would never say because it just sounds dumb in her accent.

Just had a look at that.

One of my closest friends is half Brit/half American and she quite literally switches her accent between the Montana drawl she has in the States and the Yorkshire one she has in the UK. It's quite fun when she's drunk and it's this weird amalgamation of both. Sent her this story and told her to get on Peppa the Pig for when she gets back over here after the pandemic.

[thejbs]

True.

Must admit though, I can see why so few travel abroad seeing how the country offers almost every type of holiday you could ask for.

Exactly. Many brits have passports but don't travel beyond the usual European resort areas in Spain etc. Would take you decades to properly experience the best of what the US has to offer.

[Red Beret]

Just had a look at that.

One of my closest friends is half Brit/half American and she quite literally switches her accent between the Montana drawl she has in the States and the Yorkshire one she has in the UK. It's quite fun when she's drunk and it's this weird amalgamation of both. Sent her this story and told her to get on Peppa the Pig for when she gets back over here after the pandemic.

She's really good, isn't she?

Bi-Dialectal is quite normal.  Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame is the same. Even though she's technically American, she lived most of her childhood in the UK and has lived her since the early 2000s. She easily flips between the two accents depending on where she's from. 

[Red Beret]

Exactly. Many brits have passports but don't travel beyond the usual European resort areas in Spain etc. Would take you decades to properly experience the best of what the US has to offer.

I'm so glad I hate the sun, as it means I almost completely avoid such areas travelling in Europe.

[Jiminy Cricket]

The term staycation, as I understand it, is for when people stay at a hotel in their own city. Like someone from the suburbs of Chicago staying at a hotel downtown. If you go to another city/state, it crosses that boundary into vacation-land.

Funnily enough, I was not entirely sure of the precise meaning either, so I looked it up before my post - the definition(s) I found suggested it is when you holiday in your own country. But, looking again, more carefully:-

The Google definition:

staycation
/steɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
Learn to pronounce
nouninformal
noun: staycation; plural noun: staycations; noun: stay-cation; plural noun: stay-cations

    a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.

But looking further, I see Wikipedia, for example, defines it along the lines you suggested:

A staycation (a portmanteau of "stay" and "vacation"), or holistay (a portmanteau of "holiday" and "stay"), is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within day trip distance of their home and does not require overnight accommodation.[1] In British English the term has increasingly come to refer to domestic tourism: taking a holiday in one's own country as opposed to travelling abroad.[2][3][4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staycation

Mirriam-Webster:

 staycation noun

stay·​ca·​tion | \ ˈstā-ˈkā-shən
\
Definition of staycation

: a vacation spent at home or nearby

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/staycation

And Collins suggests both:

staycation
(steɪkeɪʃən) also stacation
Word forms: plural staycations
countable noun
A staycation is a holiday that you spend in your own home or your own country, relaxing and enjoying leisure activities there.
[informal]
The great British staycation is back in fashion with more British holidaymakers choosing not to jet off to the sun but to stay at home instead.

staycation in British English
or stacation (ˌsteɪˈkeɪʃən ) informal
noun
1. a holiday in which leisure activities are pursued while staying at one's own home
2. a holiday in one's own country
verb (intransitive)
3. to take a staycation
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
staycationer (ˌstayˈcationer) noun
Word origin
C21: stay1 + (va)cation

I guess, since it is a newly coined word, its precise meaning is in limbo. Or, it will always be ambiguous and its meaning will depend upon context. So, take your pick, I guess.

[rob1966]

True.  When it comes to holidaying abroad, I think it's largely going to be Americans on the coasts.  I've done a road trip in the US, and there is a hella lot to see that I think most foreigners would miss.  It's not exactly off the beaten track but it takes a lot of planning.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is called Adventures and Naps.  A Canadian lass who has lived most of the past five years in Kent.  She freely admits she's picked up a lot of British-isms, but also says there's stuff she would never say because it just sounds dumb in her accent.

Missus wants us to do a coach tour when we retire. She didn't something similar with her Dad when she was younger, she said it was brilliant.  She's taken a helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon, I'd love to do that. One thing I never got around to doing was going coast to coast on a bike, I was even going to lower myself to riding a Harley   One of the Operations fellas at work did it with his lad, said it was brilliant.

[Brissyred]

A missing man in Turkey accidentally joined his own search party for hours before realising he was the person they were looking for, local media reports.

Beyhan Mutlu had been drinking with friends on Tuesday when he wandered into a forest in Bursa province.

When he failed to return, his wife and friends alerted local authorities and a search party was sent out.

Mr Mutlu, 50, then stumbled across the search party and decided to join them, NTV reported.

But when members of the search party began calling out his name, he replied: "I am here."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58746703

[Ziltoid]

A missing man in Turkey accidentally joined his own search party for hours before realising he was the person they were looking for, local media reports.

Beyhan Mutlu had been drinking with friends on Tuesday when he wandered into a forest in Bursa province.

When he failed to return, his wife and friends alerted local authorities and a search party was sent out.

Mr Mutlu, 50, then stumbled across the search party and decided to join them, NTV reported.

But when members of the search party began calling out his name, he replied: "I am here."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58746703

   Brilliant

[scatman]

haha was funny as hell because apparently he was part of the search for a few hours too!

[rob1966]

Woman who married herself is now divorcing herself after 'meeting someone else'

Model Cris Galera married herself in a formal ceremony in September of this year, but now she's decided to part ways with her solo marriage after falling in love with someone else

A woman, who made headlines earlier this year by marrying herself, is now heading for divorce after confessing she's met someone else.

Cris Galera grew tired of relying on men, so decided to marry herself in a formal ceremony which was held in September of this year.

The 33-year-old model insisted she wasn't "disappointed" not to have a groom and instead was embracing going it alone, but it wasn't meant to be and 90 days later, she's decided to divorce herself, the Daily Star reports.

Fortunately for Cris, who hails from Sao Paulo in Brazil, she has since met "someone special" and has even started to fall in love, despite vowing to go solo.

"I was happy while it lasted," she said, adding, "I started to believe in love the moment I met someone else special."

Talking back in September about marrying herself, Cris said: "I reached a point where I matured, I realised that I am a strong and determined woman.

"I was always afraid of being alone, but I realised that I needed to learn to feel good about myself. When that happened, I decided to celebrate it."

On her wedding day, Cris could be seen showing off her tattoos in a stunning plunging white dress, posing outside a Catholic church in her native Brazil.

She happily posed for pictures on her wedding day in front of a Catholic church in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Reflecting on her impressive outfit at the time, Cris said: "I wanted to highlight my best features, my breasts. I wore a killer neckline."

However, while Cris felt fantastic on her big day, she was sad to receive hate comments from trolls.

"I decided that I would no longer read the hate comments," she commented. "People's opinion will not change what I think or add anything to it."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/woman-who-married-herself-now-25519160

[Red Beret]

^^^ There's actually a nice and valuable message in that story. Whilst it takes the concept to an extreme, learning to love oneself is an important step towards loving and being loved by another.

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

https://nypost.com/2021/12/02/woman-caught-breastfeeding-her-hairless-cat-on-a-delta-flight/amp/

[Nobby Reserve]

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/artillery-shell-rectum-bum-squad-twitter-reaction_uk_61aa265fe4b0f398af204204

[Statto Red]

A high school in Ohio that even had an American Football game shown on ESPN, turns out the high school was a scam   

https://www.espn.com/high-school/football/story/_/id/32894888/hs-program-featured-espn-investigated-deemed-scam-ohio-board-education


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Sycamore_High_School_scandal

[Barneylfc∗]

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/garda%C3%AD-investigating-after-man-s-body-used-in-apparent-attempt-to-claim-pension-1.4782598


Gardaí are investigating the death of an elderly man in Carlow town, whose body was brought into a post office by two other men, in what appeared to be an attempt to claim the deceased man’s pension.

The bizarre series of events began when a man entered the post office premises of Hosey’s shop and post office on Staplestown Road at about 11.30 am on Friday, seeking to collect the weekly pension on behalf of another man. He was informed by a staff member that the man himself would have to be present if payment of the pension was to be made.

This man left and a short time later two men, accompanied by a third man in his 60s, entered the post office. These two men are appear have sought pension payment for the third man, who appeared to be propped up. A woman who had become suspicious of the men’s movements alerted a post office staff member and no cash was handed over. The body of the deceased was then left at the scene when the two men fled after suspicions were raised.

Gardaí and emergency services were notified and the man was declared dead some time later. An ambulance crew and several gardaí attended at the scene. It is understood there were CCTV cameras operative in the post office at the time.

The deceased man is believed to have been aged 66 and a resident of Pollerton Road, close to Hosey’s premises. A house in Pollerton Road has been sealed off by gardaí as a crime scene.

Local Fine Gael Cllr Fergal Browne said the incident was “shocking and very upsetting for everyone locally”. It was especially upsetting for the staff of the post office who witnessed what happened.

He described the man who died as a “decent guy, very well regarded and liked and caused no offence to anybody. You couldn’t make up what happened”. Mr Browne said he thought the story was made up when he first heard it. “It’s unreal. You are looking at it as a rational person, but whoever did this were not rational.”

A woman working in a beauty and nail salon across the road from the post office described the incident as “unbelievable”. She was alerted to the commotion after seeing an ambulance and Garda cars outside the small post office, shortly before noon on Friday, she said.

“It’s all anyone has been talking about . . . it is unbelievable,” she said.

A Garda spokesman confirmed that officers were investigating “all the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of an elderly male in the Carlow area”.

The spokesman said services of the Garda Technical Bureau had been requested and a postmortem would be conducted by the Office of the State Pathologist. The postmortem results would help determine the course of the investigation, said the spokesman. The man’s body was removed from the scene on Friday night.

The focus of Garda inquiries is to identify the cause and time of the death, said sources.

[AndyInVA]

Seems weird at the moment. Driver arrested for driving his car into and over a knife wielding stabbing killer. For once not a weird US headline but one from UK.

[Boston always unofficial]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60742364. Alot to unpack with this story.

[Jshooters]

North Korea with a weird and unintentionally hilarious montage of their recent missile launch

https://bit.ly/3JEGWln

[BarryCrocker]

Fishing world erupts after cheating scandal caught on camera: 'Disgusted'

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1576269287454806016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1576269287454806016%7Ctwgr%5Ea161826d14020099a3bbc4143d09a4432424fcbb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fau.sports.yahoo.com%2Ffishing-2022-contestants-erupt-cheating-scandal-caught-camera-034203662.html

[stoa]

Fishing world erupts after cheating scandal caught on camera: 'Disgusted'

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1576269287454806016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1576269287454806016%7Ctwgr%5Ea161826d14020099a3bbc4143d09a4432424fcbb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fau.sports.yahoo.com%2Ffishing-2022-contestants-erupt-cheating-scandal-caught-camera-034203662.html

Have to say, I'm surprised this didn't end with a shootout between the cheaters and the crowd.

[Jiminy Cricket]

Something didn't smell right.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/17/brazil-woman-corpse-bank-fraud