Going straight for the pungular this week with proof, as if it was needed, that too many puns or plays on parlance are never enough.
Led by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries the practice of playing with patois, palaver and prose to provoke the passion of perceptive and prudent punnism can be particularly pleasant and possibly packed with pleasure.
Announcing the State’s ‘#eatqld’ promotion which praises local produce to persuade people to eat local, the Minister for Agriculture punned at will pursuing a platform to prove his point by calling on his populace to ‘Step up to the Plate’.
“Make sure the #eatqld message is on everyone’s menu,” the Minister proposed, pleading with his people that everyone “chip in to support Queensland producers.”
Persevering in his pursuit of the perfect pun the Minister then made it plain that: “when you enjoy some great Queensland produce, the simple act of snapping and sharing via the #eatqld hashtag will spread the word about the world of flavour from the state of delicious.”
Now there’s a Minister going places!
Panning the pandemic
It appears that few things are sacred in these days of scam-demonium so it’s no surprise that the all-embracing Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemoniac is attracting its share of frauds and extortionists.
So much so in fact that the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has been busy inoculating the fake cures being waved in front of unsuspecting gullibles in the hope he can do some good against the pandemonic no-gooders.
Apart from the widely promoted scams that marijuana, cocaine or vitamin C can defuse COVID-19, other dangerous chemical killers are also being promoted including a certain President’s ‘drink-it-and-die’ disinfectant, the same President’s antimalarial remedy Chloroquine and the less-than-shiny colloidal silver.
All of these threats, and more, have prompted the RACGP leader to spruik the last word.
“There is no magic cure for COVID-19”, he said vigorously.
“My advice is simple – wash your hands, keep them away from your face, avoid handshakes and mass public gatherings and don’t always believe what you see on social media.”
Enough said!
Living doll
And while we’re on the question of life-threatening activities, PS-sssst! managed to stumble across a famous quote from last century, kindly passed on by the redoubtable Philomena S of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, which seems to sum up the wisdom of the ages.
“You only live once,” the US actress, singer and proverb writer Mae West is reported as saying.
“But if you do it right, once is enough.”
Hear hear!
Giving it away
To Rama’s weekly give-it-away now in which a DVD full of all the episodes of the much-loved 1980s English TV classic Brideshead Revisited was on the table to be won by two lucky readers to add to their TV and DVD collections.
To join Rama’s Army of propitious prizewinners, all she asked of her readers was to identify the date of the first episode of the series – a jot of valuable information she cunningly included in her review of the DVD – and then belong to one of the first correct entries to be plucked from the infamous PS News Barrel of Booty.
The answer was 12 October 1981 and the two correct entrants to meet all the necessary requirements were Scott W from the Australian Taxation Office and Frances B from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Congratulations Scott and Frances and thanks to everyone who took part. The DVDs will be on their way soon.
For another chance to put your giveaway-winning skills a going over, follow this PS News link book prize and take this link DVD giveaway.
Good luck to all who do.
One off 700!
And finally, only a few people will have noticed but today’s edition of PS News is its 699th, the number of issues one has when we started publishing for the PS 15 years ago.
What makes 699 most noticeable however is that it makes next week’s issue No. 700, a milestone of sorts and a significant achievement PS News is rightly proud of.
While big celebrations are not planned to mark the big occasion in light of the big un-celebraterious days we live in, our cherished readers can expect some minor tweaks to their PS News to pop up as it embarks on its next round of 700 issues, aiming as always to make this week’s issue better than the last.
Until next week…..
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