A $175 hamburger, is prepared at The Wall Street Burger Shoppe in New York in this file photo from May

Whether smashing plates in San Diego to relieve frustration¹ or drinking "Bailout Bitter" beer in Canada sold as a "bitter ale for bitter times", people the world over kept a sense of humour in 2008 despite financial woes².

Some of the year's top off-beat tales included a Canada brewery³ that created a special tough times bitter and "Sarah's Smash Shack⁴" in California, which charges patrons $10 for 15 minutes of pleasure pulverising dinnerware against a wall.

"It was the best $50 we've spent in the last two years," said insurance broker⁵ Adam DeWitt, who smashed plates in San Diego with his wife after his home mortgage loan was rejected.

A glance back at 2008 shows a world full of wonderful, weird⁶ and whacky stories both before and after the financial upheaval⁷.

In May, a Wall Street restaurant boasted it was selling the costliest⁸ burger in New York, with the $175 patty made of Kobe beef, black truffles and seared foie gras.

"Wall Street has good days and bad days," said Heather Tierney at her Wall Street Burger Shoppe. "We wanted to have something special if you really have a good day on Wall Street."

One bank in Kazakhstan offered a diamond-encrusted credit card for well-heeled clients with incomes over $300,000. A jeweller in Tokyo kept busy selling 13-piece tableware sets made of gold for $1 million -- aimed at newly rich Chinese customers.

Yet there was no need for any plates at all in Bihar, one of India's poorest states where authorities encouraged people to eat rats to fight rising food prices and save grain stocks. They praised rat meat a healthy alternative to rice.

"Bailout" was crowned as the US word of the year, and the financial crisis also had implications in Russia where vodka consumption fell sharply and the National Alcohol Association lobby group in Moscow said vodka stockpiles were six times higher than usual.

A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted⁹ his wife among the establishment's employees, making some extra money on the side. After 14 years, the couple are divorcing.

2008年经济低迷，但不管是在圣地亚哥摔盘泄愤，还是在加拿大喝一种“艰难时期的苦青啤”（也称“援助苦酒”），世界各地人们的幽默感丝毫未减。

本年度经典的苦中作乐事件有：加拿大一家酿酒厂制出一种特殊的“艰难时期苦啤酒”。在美国加州的“莎拉摔盘小屋”，顾客只需花费10美元就可以体验痛摔餐具15分钟的快乐。

保险经纪人亚当•德威特说：“这是我近两年花的最值的50美元。”在申请住房抵押贷款遭拒后，他与妻子同往圣地亚哥摔盘子。

回首2008年，不管是在经济危机之前还是之后，整个世界充斥着奇妙、神秘和怪诞的事件。

今年5月份，一家位于华尔街的餐馆宣称他们出售全纽约最贵的汉堡，里面夹的肉饼用神户牛肉、黑松露和烧鹅肝制成，售价175美元。

这家“华尔街汉堡店”的老板希瑟•特尼说：“华尔街时晴时雨，如果你真的在华尔街过得不错，我们想奉上些特别的东西。”

哈萨克斯坦一家银行为收入超过30万美元的富豪客户提供镶有钻石的信用卡。东京一家珠宝店则忙于出售一套价值100万美元的13件套黄金餐具，目标顾客群为中国新贵。

而在印度最贫困的省邦之一比哈尔邦，人们可不需要摔盘泄愤，当地政府鼓励人们吃鼠肉以应对粮价攀高并节约粮食库存。官方宣称鼠肉是可以替代大米的健康食品。

“救援”获选美国年度词汇，俄罗斯伏特加酒的销量受经济危机影响骤减，莫斯科全国酒业协会游说集团称伏特加库存量较平时高出六倍。

一位波兰男子去妓院寻欢却意外发现妻子在那里赚外快。事后这对牵手14年的夫妻离婚。