There are two things that are recently making me really angry: Candy Land and that store where you can get pet supplies at. I'm not sure what it's called.
See, that's the problem. For a while I wondered if it was PetSmart, or instead, PetsMart, or maybe even Pet'sMart. Each of those would make perfect sense, right? For clarification, I looked at the sign, and it ended up just putting me in a bad mood. The sign is in two colors, which by itself would be a big help, because PET is in red and SMART is in blue. Case closed? No. They have some weird bouncing ball thing above the letters that looks like it might be an apostrophe, and where is it? You guessed it - right between the T and the S. That is annoying, but I just resigned to the fact that the different colors have to trump the bouncing ball - but wait a second! Damnit! Underneath the store near us, they have another sign that advertises their pet boarding service, and it is called, in all capitals, and in one color, PETSHOTEL. That negates the entire idea of the two colors, right? If it really is PetSmart, then the boarding service would have be called PetShotel. There is no such thing as a shotel - but wait a second - ah, crap. Apparently a shotel is a curved Ethiopian sword. Problem is, they don't even sell those there.
I apologize for wasting your time with this, but as I told Derek, one thing about a good company is that you know what it's called. Grrrr....
I'm also annoyed by Candy Land. I'd be able to look past it but sometimes I have to play it with my younger kids while we talk. I'm sure you have fond memories of this game, but it's perhaps the worst game ever to attain huge popularity. That and War. In both games, you don't ever make a single decision, and that's why it stinks. Before you even open the box, the winner of Candy Land is determined! Let's open up a box, look at some cute pictures of people living in candy landscapes, and turn over cards that tell us exactly where to go until the game is over. Again, I could probably look past it, but I have to listen to kids tell me that they're "really good at Candy Land." I'm all about self-esteem in children, but no one in history has ever been good at Candy Land. That is a weird thing to say about a game, but think about it, it's true!
Grrr...
I feel like Peter Griffin on his "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears" segments.
7 comments:
Hilarious post! The Ethiopian sword part had me literally laughing out loud.
You might enjoy The Case Against Candyland. On the other hand, I kind of agree with this assessment of it (for really young kids, at least) from a guy named Tom Armitage:
----
Candyland is a great first game; literally, the very first. It teaches turn-taking. It teaches the mores, the manners, the culture of playing boardgames. Later, when a child comes to a game where the rules are more complex, the turn process more intricate, the customs of gameplay are already learned; rather than focusing on learning the social interactions, they can focus on the complexity of the game itself.
----
But for an older kid to say "I'm really good at Candyland" is like saying "I'm a whiz at flipping a coin!" Oh well, if fatalism is true, what can we do about it?
hahaha! I used to love Candyland. But you're totally right. No one is good at Candyland unless picking up cards is a skill.
I've always wondered that about PetSmart too.....
....I'd write more but I have to go polish my shotel now.
What a coincidence that the other story was posted so recently!
I have no problem with using games for their "teaching moments" - I do that a lot. Maybe it's just the gamer in me that gets more annoyed with Candy Land than others!
I sympathize about PETSMART. I have a similar problem with the store whose sign is like this:
Dress
Barn Woman
I know what they MEAN to say, but it looks like they are encouraging you to dress your barn woman.
And don't even get me started on "The Teacher Store: Not Just For Teachers"
Colin is totally right. If a large part of your store's sign has to declare, "This store is not what the name implies!", well, maybe you should think of another name!
LOL - Colin, you've gotten me all worked up again, those are terrible! I never had noticed that about the Teacher store...
Post a Comment