Mousetrap - 67

All your’s
Apostrophe Protection Society & The Dreaded Apostrophe
Dedicate’d, unlike so many signboard painter’s, advertiser’s and (the horror) newspapers, to the correct use of that poor, harassed mark of punctuation. The first sites page’s are full of photograph’s and other example’s of misuse, plu’s a forum. The second ha’s detailed example’s of proper usage, with lot’s of little tip’s. Both feature set’s of interesting link’s the grammar lover wo’nt find uninteresting. Now, I’m looking for someone to set up a forum dedicated to sticking lighted matches under the fingernails of people who use “you’ll” (which, fercryingoutloud, is a contraction of “you will”) when they mean “y’all.”

Help me get US$18 million out of Zimbabwe
419 Eater
419 scams pre-date the net. But they’re an industry that has made the transition effortlessly. They’re named 419s after the section number of the Nigerian penal code that deals with “advance fee scams.” They prey on greed, offering you a share of a large sum of money provided you help get it out of insert-African-country-here, and if you bite, you will, at some point, be asked to send money, usually a small (but only in comparison to the promised sum) “processing fee.” This site’s FAQ is a must-see for basic information. But the main reason I recommend it to you is its focus on scam-baiting, or scamming the scammers. There are hilarious email records and photographs, and lots more. Go see. Mariam Abacha, and the family members of other assassinated dictators await you. [Link via Devangshu Datta.]

Flushed
The Good Loo Guide
The name of this CollaBlog tells you what to started out to be. And while the group of bloggers behind it haven’t exactly delivered on that score, what they have put together is a lot of links, frequently funny, to do with toilets. Go read. And till next week, I’ll use my brother’s attempt at a humorous sign off: to-de-loo.


Reader suggestions welcome, and will be acknowledged. Go to http://o3.indiatimes.com/mousetrap for past columns, and to comment, or mail inthemousetrap@indiatimes.com. The writer blogs at http://zigzackly.blogspot.com.

Published in the Times of India / Outlook Traveller, Mumbai edition, 20th August, 2006.

Tags: The Times of India, Mousetrap