Thursday, 21 December 2006

John who?

And another thing about Christmas cards: the contemptuous way in which people with very common first names often sign without a surname, thus indicating that they believe you are a sad, lonely person and that your circle of acquaintances is so pathetically small that you will identify the writer immediately because you know no-one else with the same name. You can only hope that you didn’t send the idiots a card, whoever they are.

And then there are the couples whom you may have met once in 1974 but who believe their personalities are so remarkable that you will remember them for ever.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do people in England send Christmas letters recounting all the boring things they've done since last Christmas? This is a disturbingly common practice in the U.S. Though I actually look forward each year to the annual missive from my wife's wretched step-sister, who provides a detailed inventory of every expensive and tasteless purchase she and her equally wretched husband have made during the past year.

2:13 am
Anonymous said...

Sadly, yes. One journalist has published two anthologies of the ghastliest examples, illustrating their seven deadly sins, including: boastfulness (clever children who play the saxophone and ski for Britain), smugness, tiny-mindedness, whimsy (letters written by pets, even dead ones), and over-sharing ( such gems as "..February was mainly taken up with dental appointments...").

8:54 am
Anonymous said...

Well, I never!
-Betty and Fred

4:42 am

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