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I happened to notice the bold proclamation on a bottle of syrup that we have:

No High Fructose Corn Syrup

That’s great! But what does it have in it?

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I buy a variety of cereals for breakfast. Some for me, some for the kids. One of the kinds I liked for me was Special K with Fruit and Yogurt.

Sound healthy, right?

But I’m not here to discuss the nutrition aspect of the cereal. I’m here to discuss the fruit part.

What fruit do you think is in the cereal?

It says it contains fruit.
It shows strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries on the box.

One would think that the cereal contained strawberries, raspberries, and/or blackberries.

Did you see any of those fruits listed in the ingredients?

Nope.

All it has, as far as fruit goes, is apples. And red dye to make them look like strawberries or raspberries.

Pretty sneaky…

I’d almost consider continuing to buy and eat it, because it tastes good enough. But I think I’ll stop because of the red dye. Plus there are other cereals, including Special K brand, that do contain actual berries.

No sense in rewarding the imposter with more business.

I don’t golf, but if I did, I’d get this golf equipment:

What’s wrong with this book?

My son checked this out of the library. He said his teacher was reading it to them; I assume he was just impatient with that slow pace.

I saw the cover as he was reading it and asked him to show me the spine of the book.

“Sure. Why?”
“I want to see how the library categorizes the book.”
“What?”
“They incorrectly put it in Fiction. As the sub-title clearly states, this is a true story. So it should be in the Non-Fiction section.”
“No, dad, that’s just what they call it. They also have the true story of the Three Little Bears and other things.”
“Well then, those people must not know what the word true means.”

There are other sub-titles that would have conveyed what I think they meant:

• The untold story of Rumpelstiltskin
• The life story of Rumpelstiltskin
• The whole story of Rumpelstiltskin

Why did they choose to dilute the word true?

I doubt their goal was to promote moral relativism in impressionable children, to muddy the meaning of truth for the next generation. That may be the effect, but I doubt that was their goal.

I assume their goal was to create an interesting phrase – “this one is catchy because it makes people stop and think, how can we have a true version of a fairy tale?” That works for the author’s generation because they know what truth is. But a catchy sub-title becomes popular, and before long, applying the word true to various things that aren’t true becomes commonplace, and then people get confused.

No, I don’t think this one book is going to cause the downfall of Western civilization. But it is somewhat telling of the mindset of people these days. Do people care what words mean anymore?

I don’t know where my wife bought these cookies, but I’m glad she bought the new version and not the old version.

You know it must have been bad for them to (indirectly) admit the old version did not taste great.

One of the classic questions to discuss is “What exactly are the reindeer games the other reindeer won’t let Rudolph play?” Now that a certain series of novels and movies has become popular, I see the opportunity for a cross-marketing strategy. Unfortunately, the Hunger Games people missed the window of opportunity. Too late now.