Irony? An English sense of humor? Or coincidence?

[Cole Parker]

Harrow College, that fabled British institution for young men in their formative years, has just come further into the modern era by establishing an LGBTQ club for its students.

The club's location? On Queens Course.

No one does things better than the Brits.

C

[Chris James]

The English definitely have a wicked sense of humor although sometimes it seems obscure to the rest of us.

But to give equal time to the Americans: The gay beach in Rehoboth, Delaware, is located at the end of Queen Street on the Atlantic Ocean.

[Nigel Gordon]

Cole, it's just coincidence, if they we had been after irony it would have been located on Straight Lane!

[colinian]

A friend of mine who lives in North Vancouver, BC sent me this bit of irony:

At the end of the tax year, Revenue Canada sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the agent was checking the books, he turned to the executive of the hospital and said, “I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the executive. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way. ”What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the executive, realising that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they send us a free bag of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all executive. "Well, what do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the executive. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the tax office, and about once a year they send us a complete prick."

Colin

[TalonRider]

When I first moved to Pennsylvania, I lived a block away from Gay Street and later moved to Queen Street.

[Hoskins]

I had a house that was on Ruth Ave. It was at the intersection of Ruth and Hazel. The address was 69 Ruth.

[Bruin Fisher]

A friend of mine who lives in North Vancouver, BC sent me this bit of irony:

At the end of the tax year, Revenue Canada sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the agent was checking the books, he turned to the executive of the hospital and said, “I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the executive. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way. ”What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the executive, realising that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they send us a free bag of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all executive. "Well, what do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the executive. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the tax office, and about once a year they send us a complete prick."

Colin

Love this, Colin - thanks!

[Resurgam]

...and Americans don't do irony? How about just a few US Military favourites - and if these don't show the finest grasp of irony, dissimulation and feigned ignorance, whatever - then my very English sense of irony must be failing?

"Collatoral Damage" (missing the target and killing someone else by accident), Operation Iraqi Freedom (well that one worked brilliantly!), The Patriot Act (can blanket state surveillance really be patriotic in the Land of the Free? BTW - did you know the Act has a "bacronym" too), Blue on Blue & Friendly Fire (you'll be feeling very blue if it happens to you and it certainly isn't friendly), The War on Terrorism (and you declare war on an "ism" how precisely?), the list goes on...

[Merkin]

Pretty much nails it, Resurgam--except I would label these excesses 'naivete' rather than 'irony.' After all, we are a young nation, and have had fewer wars to practice on.

[Cole Parker]

I'd call them sophistry and salesmanship. Neither of which is in any way admirable.

C