KEY POINTS:
Ann Woolliams of Rotorua thought this effort showed some good old-fashioned Kiwi ingenuity: "As I passed through the main street of Te Teko I saw this gentleman, sitting in his beach chair, on an empty corner section. Mr Reen van de Molen figured there would be many people
going to the beach this summer holiday and he's selling his 873sq m section for $50,000."
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More readers have written in to share their pet peeves about misused, overused and generally disliked words/phrases:
* "You know" is a favourite of our beloved sports people, says Angela Whittaker . "The 'you knows' have replaced the 'ums' and 'ahs' and the old 'ers' of yesteryear!" she says.
* Andrew Bright isn't fond of the phrase "without further adieu". It drives me fairly bonkers every time I hear it used, and I don't think this collection is complete without a mention of good old "Yeh, nah".
* Robert Higham is irked by the use of "should of" instead of "should have", "brought" instead of "bought" and people (especially sporting personalities) who, after some huge blunder use the euphemism, "I made an error of judgment" instead of "I was stupid".
* "My pet peeve is all those people who insist on reverting back", says Jackie Osborn. "Have they ever, I wonder, tried to revert forward!"
* Melissa Kershaw reckons New Zealander's aren't afraid to use these cringe-making terms, all in the one sentence. ie. Basically, at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, it all turns to custard.
* "The most abused word in the language at the moment is unquestionably 'iconic'," says Dave Blanshard.
* Michael Gifford says: It is obviously not PC to say you are proud when given an honour, picked for a team, or praised in any way. You must now say you are "humbled".
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A museum dedicated to laziness has opened in Colombia's capital, Bogota. The event features sofas placed in front of televisions, hammocks and beds - anything associated with the avoidance of work. The idea is to get people during the holiday season to think about laziness and its opposite, extreme work, and perhaps reach some balanced conclusion.
Marcela Arrieta, the museum curator, said: "We always think about laziness as an enemy of work. So we wanted to explore that and make people think about the social issues implied in taking a nap, in being jobless or in feeling that maybe we are wasting time - so we want to ask ourselves about that."
