The Week May 14, 2010

Divorce Wars

China’s Youth Times reports that a couple in Ningbo in East China may have set a Guinness Book of world record for the most divorces in a single year. Because of disputes over a property, and also maybe some sloppy paperwork, the couple had to get divorced, and remarry three times in 2009.

What Women Really Want

China’s divorce rate has been increasing for a record nine years. According to China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, the divorce rate is three times higher than it was in 2001. What is the city with the most divorces? Beijing. So what makes women really happy? According to a report in London Telegraph, it’s technology.

So let’s help save the marriage of John and Lan of Beijing. According to the study by London’s BCS, the Chartered Institute of IT, a survey of 35,000 people found that having access to computers, the Internet and communications devices makes people happier. Women are particularly happy with technology, the survey found. So will giving Lan flowers help John save his marriage? Nope. How about candy? No. Ah, but how about Apple iPod? Yes, it appears that modern technology can save a marriage.

Office keyboard “QWERTY Tummy”

Is your computer giving you “QWERTY Tummy”? That’s the phrase coined by the London Royal Society of Chemistry for people who eat after using dirty computer keyboards. Q-W-E-R-T-Y, those are the first letters on the left side of a computer keyboard. The group told the London Daily Mail this week that mice are leaving their droppings on keyboards after people leave offices at night looking for crumbs. One London cleaning company told the newspaper: “A woman wondered why 'seeds' were coming out of her computer at work.” Those weren’t seeds. How dirty are computer keyboards at offices? Scientists found by researching one computer keyboard that had more bacteria than you can find on an average toilet seat. So how messy are today’s average keyboard?

What’s in a Sign?

When a campaign got under way in Shanghai to clean up “Chinglish” signs before the start of the 2010 World Expo, the New York Times reported samples of those signs in “Chinglish”. Such as the one that said “Execution in Progress,” and the sign that read “Stop and Fall Down Carefully.” But the readers of the New York Times responded with their own pictures of signs. What they show is English is mangled around the world. The New York Times published 177 of those pictures this week. Like this one from Japan that reads: “Because you are dangerous, you must not enter.” Or this one from South Africa that reads: “Hamburgers, Chips & Russians.” I’ve never had a Russian with my chips for lunch. And this one from English-speaking England: “Humped Zebra Crossing.” What does that mean? And this one from English-speaking Yellowstone National Park in the United States: “No Celery Phones.” Does that mean no banana phones, either?

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About the broadcaster:

Renee Haines is an editor and broadcaster at China Daily. Renee has more than 15 years of experience as a newspaper editor, radio station anchor and news director, news-wire service reporter and bureau chief, magazine writer, book editor and website consultant. She came to China from the United States.