Sideswipe: April 25: An ad to be confused by

Photo / Supplied

Some readers felt the Correction Department's new recruitment ad campaign implied motherhood was not "a career to be proud of", but Corrections says it is not representing a mother, but a nanny. "The ad highlights prior occupations of our frontline staff and shows that a range of jobs not traditionally associated with Corrections work have transferable skills, like nannying." The ad is still clumsy because implicit in the comparison is that the non-Corrections vocation is not one to be proud of.

Reverse sexism knows no statistics

Ignoring domestic violence stats, this reader would like to draw attention to this insidious form of reverse sexism: "It was great to see yet another female get let off with only a warning when the cops pulled her over on Police 10-7 on Thursday night," writes Andrew. "You know the drill - a young female driver endangers lives, gets pulled over, turns on the tears, and gets let off with a warning. The same excuse (being female) has worked for my wife in the past, and at least twice for my sister. Back in 2012, the Herald reported that 9609 Auckland drivers had been pulled over but let off with a warning that year. Suspecting that the police may be a little sexist when it comes to this sort of thing, I contacted them to ask for a breakdown of these figures by gender. They refused, so unfortunately all I have to go on is a whole bunch of anecdotal evidence to confirm my suspicions."

News nostalgia

A news story from 1938 reports that 82-year-old Mihailo Tolotos died having lived his entire life in Greece's Mt Athos monastery, which women were (are) not allowed to enter. He was therefore believed to have been the only man in the world never to have been in the presence of a woman (except his mother, who died giving birth to him).

An answer to the hanging hens

Andrew Parsons of Orakei writes: "The (dead) birds are hung in the tree as the first part of making a dish called "old hen" which involves drying the birds, then marinating them and finally slow cooking the bird. It is a delicious Liaoning (local) dish that we make in New Zealand now."

Out-of-control real estate agent drivel. Photo / Supplied

"A bottomless crevasse opened up today outside Outfitters in Morrow St Newmarket," writes a reader. "Sadly I think global warming will melt it over the weekend."

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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz