Category Archives: taking the piss

September 28, 2022 · 3:14 am

From The Sublime to The Ridiculous: “Little Akio’s” Breadth of Quotable quotes

Item sent by Dulip Karunaratne of St. Aloysius in Galle then & Queensland now

The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some History.” Who said *’Give me Liberty, or give me Death?”* ………………….. She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Akio, a bright foreign exchange student from Japan, who had his hand up: *”Patrick Henry, 1775,”* he said.

“Very good! — Who said, *’Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth’ ?“* ………….Again, no response except from Little Akio: *”Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”*

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September 19, 2022 · 7:16 pm

From my Mother “Elizabeth” to Elizabeth Truss: Downhill …

Michael O’Leary in Sunday Island, 17 September 2022, where the title reads: “A Tale of Three Elizabeths” … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

England’s Glory: My mother had the same name as the UK’s latest and current (as I write) prime minister. My mother was Elizabeth Jane King and when she married Jeremiah O’Leary, the Irish labourer who helped to build her parents’ house, number 9, Stanway Road, Coney Hill, Gloucester, she became Elizabeth O’Leary. When Mary Elizabeth Truss married Liverpool accountant Hugh O’Leary she became Elizabeth O’Leary, just like my mother.

Queen Elizabeth II at Trinity in 1954 

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September 13, 2022 · 1:43 am

Exposing Sachi Sri Kantha: A Tangential Tamil Sniper

Michael Roberts

In presenting an article on Duncan White’s achievement at the World Olympic Games held in London in August 1948, I limited my focus to the 1940s. Sachi Sri Kantha in Japan has often entered comments on Thuppahi items and on this occasion ventured a point-scoring set of remarks on this item. At times these comments have proceeded tangentially to topics straddling the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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August 19, 2022 · 4:24 pm

Aussie Testosterone for Arabia! Australian Camels in High Demand

Noah Yim, in The Australian, 18 August 2022, where the title reads “Aussie mums for richest pickings of camel crop” …. while the highlighting is the hand of The Editor, Thuppahi

These mums could give birth to the Arabian Peninsula’s next top models. Wild Australian camels are highly sought after as surrogate mothers to the most prized beauty pageant and racing camels in the Middle East, courting millions of dollars from kings and sheiks in order to continue the progeny free of diseases.

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August 16, 2022 · 1:30 pm

Diplomatic Triumph for China in Sri Lanka

Zhang Huyi, in Global Times, 15 August 2022, where the title reads …. “Exclusive: Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka to launch welcoming ceremony for arrival of Chinese research vessel: source”

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will hold a welcoming ceremony for the arrival of the Chinese Yuan Wang 5 scientific research vessel at the port of Hambantota, a source close to the matter told the Global Times on Monday. “The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will hold a simple but warm welcoming ceremony on the premise of epidemic prevention and control,” the source said.

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August 12, 2022 · 9:14 pm

Chinese Counter Cartoon-Attack

….. responding to pro-Western cartoons of the type reproduced in Thuppahi yesterday: entitled “Political Jabs: Cartoos by Johnnes Leak in THE AUSTRALIAN,” ………. https://thuppahis.com/2022/08/12/64807/#more-64807

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August 12, 2022 · 12:48 pm

Political Jabs: Cartoons by Johannes Leak in THE AUSTRALIAN

CARTOONS in THE AUSTRALIAN by Johannes Leak …. a means of reflection, but always directed by Editorial political leanings 

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August 4, 2022 · 1:57 pm

It’s Time to Join the Queue ….. Sri Lanka Today

Capt Elmo Jayawardena

President gets ousted, Prime Minister gives a ‘walk over’ and Ministers join the soul-selling market to hang in there. Where? Of course, in Diyawanna Oya.** Though my senses overflow with the desire to write these stories, I, being a coward, feel ‘discretion is the better part of valor’ and will leave politics and politicians alone. What to write anyway? Things change so fast that by the time I get published the whole fairytale may change.

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July 26, 2022 · 1:22 pm

NW Goonewardena withdraws from Thuppahi in Disgust

An EMAIL MEMO from NW Goonewardena, 26 July 2022, … with emphasis in black being his work.**

I was well aware of the meaning of the word “slander.”  But, since I am old now, my memory is not that good.  So, I decided to see the meaning of the word “slander” in various dictionaries.  A cross-section of the meaning in various dictionaries (eg. Collins, Webster’s) are given below:
(1) “Outright LIES about a person’s actions or character and can seriously harm their reputation.”
(2) “Malicious gossip.”
(3) “Make FALSE and damaging statements about someone.”
(4) “The utterance of FALSE charges or misinterpretations which defame and damage another person’s reputation.”

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July 23, 2022 · 8:45 pm

An Expat’s Bitter Interpretation of the Progress from Ceylon in 1948 … till Today

Charles Seevali Abeysekera ++

Sri Lanka is officially bankrupt and a failed state in all but name. How did a country of 22 million people with a level of literacy on par with most of the developed world end up in such a dire position where the state coffers did not have the measly sum of 20 million dollars to purchase fuel to keep the country functioning beyond the next working day?

Whilst the vast majority of the population have concluded that the blame for this economic armageddon is due to the gluttony of corruption and greed, instigated and enabled by the Rajapaksa family , its acolytes and sycophantic nodding dogs, my own assessment is different.

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