Disorienting news

by Robert Stacy McCain | December 28, 2008 3:26 pm

I went to a holiday party Saturday night — actually sat in with the band for two numbers — and you’ll forgive me for being a bit discombobulated today. I freaked out when I saw this headline at Hot Air[1]:

Iran hangs ten on Christmas Eve

The phrase “hangs ten” struck my cerebral cortex at an odd angle. Surfing? In Iran? This must be a feature about Iranian youth succumbing to yet another decadent aspect of Western cultural imperialism, perhaps inspired by bootleg DVDs of old Frankie Avalon movies. And then I read the story[2]:

Norway deplores the executions of 10 persons in Iran on Christmas Eve. Prior to the executions Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere appealed to Iran to stop in time and not go ahead with the executions. …

Ah, so the Iranians didn’t actually “hang ten” on some gnarly curls in the Persian Gulf. I feel better already. I was afraid something weird was happening.

(Cross-posted at The Other McCain[3].)