White lies Kiwis were told as kids
1. "My whole family conned me into believing that just like tea leaves come from bushes and coffee beans grow on trees, so Milo grows on Milo bushes. They even convinced me to ask my Grandpa, an expert gardener, if he could please plant a Milo bush for me!"
2. "To improve our table manners and discourage us from licking the knife we were told: 'Aunty Lily cut her throat by eating off her knife'," writes Jeanette Alderson. "For years I had the gruesome picture in my head of poor Aunty Lily dying a painful death with a knife sticking out of the side of her neck. She was also never mentioned at family gatherings so I assumed they were ashamed of her bad manners."
3. A reader writes: "My mum also used to tell me that the other name for dandelions was 'Wet-The-Beds' and that if I picked them I would wet the bed. I guess it was because she didn't want weeds in the house."
4. Adrian Muller of Papamoa Beach writes: "When I was 5 our family lived on a dairy farm on the Kaipara Harbour. I used to have to walk around two sides of the bull paddock to get to school, having been warned the bull was very dangerous. When I asked my father why we kept a bull, he assured me, 'To smell the flowers'. I must have been 7 before I realised the truth of why we needed a bull."
5. "My sister and I were very fair-skinned and tried in vain to get a decent suntan," writes Brian. "Dad employed a Maori man to help on the farm and sis asked him how he came to be so brown. He told her it was only the rays of the early morning sun that gave you a good tan. Mum and Dad thought it was a hell of a joke to see sis and I up bright and early in the morning sitting in the sun with our shirts off!"
Honest garage sale sign, spotted in Christchurch.
Picture this: One stop shop for creatively altered NZ election billboards.
Picture this: Two happy vertebrae.
Social Media: If you have disdain for the book then you will be tickled pink with the parody Twitter account Fifty Sheds of Grey.
Touch and stay: This awkward Mastercard ad with our Richie is all wrong... While tap and go is a rugby term, it also means something else.
Video: Postmodern Jukebox reworks popular songs in different genres. Watch Radiohead's Creep as a soul number.
Herald app users click here for today's video.
Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz
