Here’s a card that made me smile (and then attempt a gurn)! This Official Postcrossing card is from the United Kingdom! This is kind of a maxicard-style postcard featuring the World Gurning Championships, which I had absolutely no idea existed, for 1.) I didn’t know what “gurning” was, and 2.) after inferring the meaning of “gurning” from the face on the card, didn’t know a competition could exist for such expressions. Gurning is a British English term (also known as “chucking”) that involves distorting one’s face very goofily. A lot of the times, this is when the person brings their lower lip over their upper lip, like you see here (dude’s practically swallowing his own nose XD) I remember seeing something like this on Ripley’s! Believe It Or Not (I was HUGE on Ripley’s stuff as a kid). Now I know there’s an actual term AND a competition for it! The Egremont Crab Fair, held annually in the town of Egremont (western England) is where the gurning championships take place. What does one do to become one of the top three prizewinners? Well… you put on a horse collar (shown in this card) and you make ugly faces! I’m not sure what the criteria are for judging the gurns, but just looking up this event online, there are some really good ones. The fair also hosts other intriguing competitions, like wheelbarrow racing and trying to climb up a greasy pole (emphasis on “trying”). Gurning has to be one of the most curious things I’ve looked up in some time! Next time you wanna hit someone with a good burn, just ask them to gurn, and before they even get to try, tell them how incredible it was (the implication is that you’d be calling them ugly. Sorry, my high school humor is showing XD) Thank you so much for this awesome and brilliantly silly postcard, Frances!
