MathPlus's definitions

Covid-🦃

When desperately needed foreign workers trained to slaughter and process turkeys reared for Christmas are not allowed in the country unless they serve their 14-day quarantine on arrival, whose absence would affect producers with low supply and consumers with high price.

Thanks to Covid-🦃, a lucky percentage of the nine million turkeys in the UK would have their lives spared during this 2020 Christmas period.

by MathPlus October 22, 2020

Christmask

When tens of thousands of children in developing countries are asking Santa Claus for face masks rather than toys to protect themselves and their parents (and also their teachers, doctors, nurses, and frontline workers) from the coronavirus.

Since both her parents lost their jobs due to Covid-19, Mary’s wish this Christmas is for Father Claus to deliver at least one box of Christmasks for her and her two younger siblings, who have been told to reuse their masks as often as possible to save money.

by MathPlus December 9, 2020

Awardising

When Singapore parents proudly (or boastfully) display their child’s “academic achievement” or “leadership or volunteering award” on Facebook to tell the world how “exam-smart,” “inspiring,” or “caring” he or she is—or maybe to boost their own fragile egos.

Besides showcasing on social media the exotic food they’ve partaken of, or the branded goods they’ve purchased, during their overseas trips, few vain Singaporeans would miss awardising their children’s school achievements, desiring to get dozens of likes from friends and fans.

by MathPlus May 3, 2018

Singapore Math Envy

The desire and hope among a number of developing countries that their own students could do well in math, if they were to adopt a math curriculum similar to the one used in Singapore.

A few local publishers are laughing all the way to the bank, as the result of the Singapore math envy of some African countries, which have started importing Singapore math books for their schools.

by MathPlus October 9, 2016

Mask Wave

When people from high-risk countries that have been hit by more than one wave of Covid-19 are so paranoid or petrified that they would wear more than one face mask each time—for instance, two masks for a second wave, and three for a third wave.

As Covid-19 second wave hits Singapore, third wave sweeps Delhi, and fourth wave grips Hong Kong, first-world countries are worried that their local supply of masks might be hijacked by a mask wave, as some extreme citizens take extra-precautionary measures to avoid getting infected.

by MathPlus May 25, 2021

🇨🇳: (🦇 🦠 🧪 🧫 🔬) ➡️ 🌍: (😷x + 💀y)

A (very) short history of Covid-19 in 19 characters.

Eric plagiarized “🇨🇳: (🦇 🦠 🧪 🧫 🔬) ➡️ 🌍: (😷x + 💀y)” from Urban Dictionary and SMSed it to his father, who had nicknamed the coronavirus “China virus,” “Chinese virus,” or “kung flu” in racially charged tweets.

by MathPlus September 15, 2020

Prime Goal

When the goal in a game is scored at the pth minute, where p is a prime number.

In a 90-minute soccer match, how many possible prime goals are there?

by MathPlus April 25, 2021