Author Archives: Maria

About Maria

Hei! My name is Maria and I’m the office clown here at easytobook (I have a slight tendency to talk before thinking, which at times can be hilarious for other people). However when I’m not at work I tend to spend my time reading fashion magazines, dancing on large festival, listening to music, hanging out with friends and travelling. Furthermore I’m just a Norwegian settling into the Dutch culture. I hope you will enjoy my posts!

Funny city names

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Maria

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Occasionally it happens that you go on vacation and you end up having a great laugh because a place on that vacation had a funny name. That is simply what this blog post is about: places with funny names. I would like to apologize beforehand to those living in these places; it can’t be easy for you.

Here is one example: “You sir, where are you from?” “I come from Home.” “Yes, I understand you came from home, but from which city?” “Well I come from home….” etc, etc…

With that said, I did try to avoid writing too much about the United States. Simply because every second town/city seems to have a weird or funny name over there: Two egg, Cut and Shoot, Monkeys eyebrow, Disappointment, Dick Lick Springs, Looneyville, Rough and Ready, Horneytown, Hookersville: yes, these are places that do exist in America. You have to hand it to them though, as they seem to have been pretty original with name making in the past. Or did they just have an incredibly dirty mind?

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Urban Legends all around the world

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Maria

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I doubt there is anyone in our office that is more capable of writing a post about urban legends.

I was one of those people that had huge problems going to the toilet alone when I was little because someone had so nicely told me that there was living a monster in my toilet, which would eat me alive if it was hungry. One would hope that I was the only one pranked with this horrible urban legend, unfortunately most of my friends were as well. But that is what Urban Legends are: entertaining and often scary stories with uncertain origin, which people (to some extend) think are true.

However, this article is not about me, but about the most well-know urban legends in large cities around the globe:

New York: New York is home to several urban legends, most known is the one about the alligator in the sewer. It all started with a little boy from New York, who went on vacation to California and took a little alligator back home to have as a pet. When his alligator got to large the boy flushed him down the toilet – several people have stated to have seen an alligator in the New York sewer ever since.
New York - urban legends

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Worldwide greetings traditions

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Maria

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Few days ago our CMO walked in proudly as he just became father for the third time – of a sweet little girl this time. To my surprise everyone stood up and started kissing him on the cheeks congratulating him. In Norway (where I come from) you usually just stand up, shake hands and say congratulations. This sparked a discussion about the different greeting (kissing) traditions in the world.

I moved to the Netherlands 5 years ago from Norway and would never have thought that the Dutch would have such different greetings traditions than us Norwegians. In Norway we usually shake hands when we meet for the first time, or give hugs to people we know well and are friends with, however in the Netherlands they kiss – a lot!

The traditional kissing gesture here in the Netherlands is to give 3 kisses on the cheeks to people you are friends with or connected with like colleagues.