Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Strine's losing its wallop, mate

SYDNEY, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Speech scientists say the Australian accent proudly known as "Strine" is becoming softer, Sky News reported Wednesday.

Felicity Cox, a lecturer in speech science at Macquarie University in Sydney, said the flattened vowels and nasal accent that identifies an Australian is thought to have emerged in the 1830s and became stronger as British influence later waned in Australia.

Also known as an "ocker" accent, the twang is best exemplified in modern time with "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan and TV's reptile-wrestler, Steve Irwin.

Cox said the gradual softening has sociological ramifications.

"They no longer feel they have to be identified by that kind of strong accent," she said. "It's also a manifestation of Australian's growing confidence as a nation."

Regardless of the accent, Australians still delight in abbreviating words, making an "ambo" out of ambulance, "footie" out of football, or soccer, and substituting "stuff off" for a common four-letter vulgarity.

Lonely zoo elephant gets her own TV

CHICAGO, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- To combat boredom, the last remaining elephant at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo has been given her own TV set, the Chicago Sun-Times said Wednesday.

Wankie, a 36-year-old female African elephant has been on her own since Peaches, a 55-year-old female African elephant died of old age last week. In October, a 35-year-old female named Tatima died of a non contagious disease.

So now, zoo officials are using a variety of what they call "enrichments" like extra playing time with toys, exercise, and some activities designed for mental stimulation -- like a television.

"Since she doesn't understand, she'll likely lose interest," predicted general curator Robyn Barbiers.

As elephants are social creatures and need companionship, the zoo is preparing to transfer Wankie to another zoo to be with others of her kind.

Toilet seat has fewer germs than desktop

LEXINGTON, Ky., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Workers eat at their desks, but few clean them, say University of Arizona researchers who found a typical toilet seat 400 times cleaner than a desk.

A study of 7,000 office desks nationwide found bacteria levels at something like 25,000 microbes per square inch. The desks of workers harboring a cold or the flu had even more germs.

An infection control nurse at University of Kentucky Hospital told the Lexington Herald-Leader most people don't go six months without sanitizing their toilet, but how many cubicle dwellers sanitize their desktop?

Crumbs left over from meals eaten on the desk feed bacteria.

An infection control expert advises workers who eat at their desks often to use antiseptic wipes to clean the surface every couple of days.

"To me, it's sort of like washing your hands before you eat," Lexington-Fayette County Health Department Deputy Commissioner Lois Davis told the newspaper.