Let's laugh about it.

Maybe it's because it's one of the first big-impact volcanic eruption since the coming of the Facebook/Twitter/Name-your-favourite-blog-provider Age. But it just seems crazy how much publicity Eyjafjallajökull (EFJ) got. Granted, it did cause an unprecedented level of transportation chaos in Europe, and as a consequence, in the rest of the world. But it has also generated a wealth of articles, posts and updates - in a surprisingly short amount of time.

First of all - the name. I have already talked about this in my previous posts - with various videos featuring british journalists trying to say the "E word", or tips on how to remember the name "Ayva - Fiat - Yoghurt - Merkel(said very fast)". Here my current favourite explanation of how EFJ got its name: It was the cat's fault!!

Then the jokes. Although as found on one site "It's a bit early for Iceland volcano jokes. We should wait for the dust to settle"... if you try to search "Eyjafjallajokull jokes" it finds 107'000 search results...! Here in no particular order, a few of my favourite ones (sorry - I can't find any good credits for the quotes....! But they were all found on random websites, i.e. I for sure cannot claim any credit for them..!)...

About "we wanted cash, you gave us ash" - official excuse of Iceland: The letter "C" doesn't exist in the icelandic alphabet, so ash is all you'll get.

Or: Iceland goes bankrupt, and then manages to set their island on fire. This has insurance scam written all over it.

There is no pleasing the English. Last time they got the Ashes they were all over it.

And then, of course, CNN always has to have one funny one - in a "ha-ha let's laugh about how stupid this person is", sad kind of way - Iceland can't have volcanoes because it's too cold? Really? I guess, in a world where Switzerland is east of Germany, for sure volcanic activity could be linked to the average air temperature.

The one that really surprised me (but I should know better by now!?) - is that you can already order t-shirts or underwear featuring Eyjafjallajökull. Fancy owning undies saying "Volcano, Baby!" on them?