• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Pictures

A martial arts enthusiast pulls a vehicle with a rope connected to his eye sockets during a performance in Hefei, Anhui province November 30, 2009. Picture taken November 30, 2009. REUTERS/China Daily

Pictures of the year: Oddly

A look at the year's best strange and unusual photos.   Slideshow 

    Laughing Santa gets the old heave ho ho ho

    CANBERRA
    Wed Dec 5, 2007 12:44pm EST
    A workman carries a model of Santa Claus before the Christmas character is installed in Sydney December 8, 2006. REUTERS/Will Burgess

    CANBERRA (Reuters) - A Santa in an Australian department store said on Wednesday he has been fired for saying "ho ho ho" and singing Christmas songs to children.

    Oddly Enough

    Employment company Westaff, which supplies stores with red-robed, white-bearded Father Christmases, had earlier asked its Santas to say "ha ha ha" because the word "ho," which is American slang for whore, could offend women, media reported.

    In the latest incident, the Cairns Post newspaper said 70-year-old John Oakes was fired on Monday for saying "ho ho ho" and for singing the Christmas song Jingle Bells.

    "They're trying to kill the spirit of Christmas," said Oakes, a retired entertainer who has been a Santa for three years.

    Westaff spokesman Bert Jansz told the paper Oakes had been dismissed because of his attitude, and not for his ho ho ho-ing.
    Oddly Enough


    More from Reuters

    Photo

    Plot exposes fissure in U.S. intelligence community

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last week's failed plot to bomb a U.S. passenger jet has exposed lingering fissures within the U.S. intelligence community, which had information from interviews and clandestine intercepts but did not put the pieces together, officials said.

    » More Top News
    Traders work in the pits at the The New York Mercantile Exchange, November 7, 2007. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

    Calling the market

    A spectacular credit bust, two devastating stock market crashes ... the smart call this decade was to play it safe.  Full Article 

    Global Markets
    People walk past a branch of Bank of America in New York's financial district April 28, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
    Rolfe Winkler:

    Move your money

    Boycotting "too big to fail" banks is a great idea -- so long as investors remember that banks aren't the only ones responsible for the crisis.  Full Article 

      Commentary