Synonym: 'Oozing charm like a runny sore'

Here's a short extract from the novel No Time For Goodbye, by Linwood Barclay:

Paula Malloy was there and she greeted Cynthia like an old friend, oozing charm like a runny sore.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the second synonym works. After all, a runny sore doesn't ooze charm. Something along the lines of 'oozing charm like a sore oozes pus' might have been better.

Trivia: Google PageRank

A bit of Saturday morning trivia: Google's PageRank algorithm, which scores web pages on their importance from zero to 10, is actually named after the chap who developed it: Larry Page.

It's a good job he wasn't called Larry Bottomley, as I'm not sure the name 'BottomleyRank' would have worked quite as well.

• Here's a handy PageRank checker.

• And here's some info about Google's PigeonRank.

Denise 'White Van' Outen

At work, we often use stock photography from online image libraries. Recently I was searching one of these libraries for a picture to illustrate a news story about the 'white van man' stereotype.

What did the image library give me when I entered the search term 'white van'? Dozens of photos of TV presenter Denise Van Outen, dressed in white.

Tube 'too hot for cattle'

According to today's Evening Standard, the London Underground is currently "too hot for cattle":



That's a shame, because cows love travelling on the Tube.

Incidentally, a couple of the broadsheets ran a similar story back in 2002. At least The Guardian took the unusual approach of putting commuters in a cattle truck.

I'd still rather see cows on the Tube, though.

Old story about tea is one of BBC's 'most popular'

Here's the BBC News website's 'most popular stories now' widget from the start of the week:


What's interesting is that story eight, "Tea 'healthier' drink than water", actually dates from August 2006:



For it to resurface as one of the Beeb's most popular stories three years after it was written shows the longevity that web content can have.

The story has been flying around on Twitter quite a lot recently, so I wonder if the micro-blogging site is responsible?

Subbing for sense

From a truck-related feature that one of my colleagues was subbing today:

Only use the air-con for a few minutes to cool the cab. Once you’re on the move, don’t run the air-con if either the doors or windows are open.

Er, why would anyone "on the move" in a 44-tonner have the doors open? And if they did, the question of whether or not to use the air conditioning should be the least of their concerns.

To demagogue

A while back my colleague Sue emailed me to say:

Pres Obama referred to "demagoging" in his interview on the Today programme this morning - I haven't looked it up but surely there's no verb 'to demagogue'?

Well, I've just looked it up and not only is such a verb in fairly widespread use, but according to the OED Online, it dates back to at least 1656 (in the sense of "to play the demagogue"). It has been used as a transitive verb, meaning "to deal with (a matter) after the fashion of a demagogue", since at least 1890.

The OED does say "chiefly US", but then Obama is the US president so I'll let him off.

Photo from Flickr

Regarding 'demagoging', Google suggests that 'demagoguing' is the more widely used spelling (32,000 results as opposed to just over 4,000).

And rather bizarrely, searching Google for "to demagogue" with results limited to "pages from the UK" brings up something called JD's World as the first result. Nothing to do with me, I promise...

A MAPMe map of South London's best pubs

I've been experimenting with the website MAPMe.com, which enables users to create personal or community maps and then embed them on to their website or blog. Yes, I know, Google Maps lets you do that too, but MAPMe.com seems to offer more functionality.

Today my girlfriend and I put together a map showing some of our favourite pubs and bars in South London. It's a bit basic at the moment (with only 12 'hotspots' and only a few photos), but we're hoping to add to it over time. It's a personal map rather than a community one, I'm afraid, so you won't be able to contribute. Sorry!


Download: KML RSS | Edit this map

Pub photos courtesy of Ewan-M and Kake Pugh.

Onward communicate

From a corporate email I received recently:

Please feel free to onward communicate to your teams.

I'm not sure what I like less - the verb 'onward communicate' or the lack of subject (onward communicate what?).

Googling "onward communicate" only gives 61 results so perhaps it won't catch on.