Reader poll: What's worse - embarrassing yourself in front of your mother or three years in prison?

A certain Mardin Amin went for the latter option. In this post 9/11, 7/7, bombs-made-out-of-fizzy-drinks-scare world, airport security might well be at an all time high. Almost everything is scanned, and if a bottle of Coca-cola might be a bomb then so might a mysterious black object that looks like a grenade. Understandably, Mr Amin was challenged as to what it was. Less understandably, his reply was "a bomb".

Don't worry, terrorists haven't gone for the honesty is the best policy option as yet. Rather, the device turned out to be part of a penis pump - a device used for extrapolating a gentleman's genitalia into some acceptably giant version of their previous self.

His reason for claiming said mostly harmless device was a bomb? His mother was nearby and he didn't want her to know what it really was. Presumably he thought she'd be less embarrassed to think her son was about to blow planes up than had a small penis.

Needless to say, making up stuff about bombs in American airports is a crime these days. He therefore has been taken to court, and is risking up to three years in prison for the crime of felony disorderly conduct. Oops.

NB: The Poorhouse did not especially enjoy spending a whole lot of time finding an illustration for this article so must apologise that the picture may not depict the actual pump in question.