British tourists repelled from U.S. after destructive Twitter jokes
Van Bryan's tweet went like this: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America."
Many Brits will feel confident in explaining that the use of the word "destroy" here refers to, well, partying. Brits like to do this. They are good at it. They enjoy exporting it.
Sadly, the Department of Homeland Security agents in Los Angeles were not up to the vernacular. Even more sadly, they appear not to have aficionados of "Family Guy", as Van Bryan had also tweeted: "'3 weeks today, we're totally in LA pissing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!"
Perhaps if the authorities had chosen to google that line, they might have felt more at ease. Perhaps, though, they would have received some strange results from Google+.
It seems sure that they didn't get this American cultural reference as they reportedly checked Van Bryan's luggage for shovels.
This story does not end happily, as Van Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting were arrested and then sent back to Blighty.
Van Bryan, though living in the chilly English city of Coventry, is an Irish citizen. He told the Mail: "I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me "you've really fucked up with that tweet boy".
Terrorist:
Van Bryan's tweet went like this: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America."
Many Brits will feel confident in explaining that the use of the word "destroy" here refers to, well, partying. Brits like to do this. They are good at it. They enjoy exporting it.
Sadly, the Department of Homeland Security agents in Los Angeles were not up to the vernacular. Even more sadly, they appear not to have aficionados of "Family Guy", as Van Bryan had also tweeted: "'3 weeks today, we're totally in LA pissing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!"
Perhaps if the authorities had chosen to google that line, they might have felt more at ease. Perhaps, though, they would have received some strange results from Google+.
It seems sure that they didn't get this American cultural reference as they reportedly checked Van Bryan's luggage for shovels.
This story does not end happily, as Van Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting were arrested and then sent back to Blighty.
Van Bryan, though living in the chilly English city of Coventry, is an Irish citizen. He told the Mail: "I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me "you've really fucked up with that tweet boy".
Terrorist:
