#583 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday February 14)
Good morning,
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today, it’s another “Hallmark Holiday.” I don’t begrudge Hallmark and others who profit from the proliferation of celebrations and encouraging (and satisfying!) the desire to send greetings, flowers and gifts. That said, I don’t have to love it.
If you celebrate Valentine’s Day, that’s great. I hope it is a meaningful experience. But for some of us, it’s just an excuse to celebrate something we should be acknowledging most days—that is, how much people we love mean to us. I sent flowers to Andrea a couple of weeks ago, for the sake of spontaneity (well, that and maybe to avoid the crush on the “big day…”). We’re likely to steer clear of restaurants and their overpriced and limited prix fixe menus for the holiday.
Again, for those who will brave the traffic, the prices, and the limited menus, I hope you have a great night out!
HALLMARK HOLIDAYS
There’s a holiday for everything. It’s not just the traditional “Hallmark Holidays” of Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. A little far afield, yet promoted by Hallmark, are National Son’s Day National Daughter’s Day, Boss’s Day (does the boss really require a celebration?), Administrative Professionals’ Day (this used to be “Secretary’s Day—times have changed), Teacher Appreciation Day, Clergy Appreciation Day, and Grandparents’ Day.
As a people, we love to celebrate. Beyond the Hallmark holidays, there are the commemorations of ethnic awareness, history and achievement, like Chinese New Years, Black History Month, Jewish-American Heritage Month, and Hispanic History Month. And there are days and months commemorating a number of other worthy causes, such as Mental Health Month, Earth Day, Meditation Month, National Dog Month, National Cat Month, and various disease awareness days.
But commemorations descend into the downright weird. Proving that we celebrate practically anything—including the most absurd things—there are Sword Swallowers’ Day (February 25), National Public Sleeping Day, National Wiggle Your Toes Day, and Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day.
While I’ll try to remember and celebrate some of these, in the end, every day is a commemoration of something (or many things), and one can’t keep track of them all. In the end, perhaps we should celebrate every day.
CANDY HEARTS
I recently read an article about the origins and history of the candy hearts that were so popular for Valentine’s Day when we were kids (and I presume remain popular today). They came around from Necco at the turn of the last century and now are produced by Brach’s and Necco.
Apparently, a lot of thought goes into the little sayings on these hearts. Things like “I luv u” and “be mine” are the most obvious. Each year, the companies try to adopt themes and pick up newer terms, while dropping those that have gone out of style. This year, one of the companies went with animal-based messages, like “puppy love” and “bear hug.”
How the sayings are chosen is interesting, particularly those sayings that go in and out of favor. Here is from The New York Times:
“‘The One I Love’ and ‘I’ll See You Home,’ popular in the early 1900s, fell out of fashion long ago, along with ‘Go Fly a Kite’ and ‘Excuse My Dust’” The dust also gathered on ‘23 Skidoo’ and ‘O! You Kid.’
‘We knew those corny expressions didn’t mean a thing to moderns,’ Margaret M. Kedian, the public relations director for Necco, told The Daily Boston Globe in 1950.
About that time, the company was stumped for new material, so it asked its sales staff to send back slang expressions from the road. ‘Going My Way’ and ‘What Gives’ had brief star turns, along with, ‘My Aching Back.’
By the 1980s, ‘Hep Cat’ and ‘Hubba Hubba’ had outlived their audience. ‘You’re Gay’ was retired for obvious reasons.
For decades, the task of editing Necco’s 80 to 125 sayings each year fell to the candy executive Walter Marshall. He solicited suggestions and drew inspiration from the world around him, using more intuition than market research to pick the winners. He liked ‘You Go Girl,’ which his granddaughter heard...”
POST-PANDEMIC
I like that the candy companies have responded post-pandemic with “supportive” messages like “Youda Best,” “Fear Less” and “Good job.” Helen Fisher, a senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute shares regarding this trend:
“It’s this theme of attachment. Much of the world is going to settle down, and along with what that they’re looking not only for romantic love but also for deep, long-term attachment.”
PET NAMES
Finally, people have all kinds of strange pet names for their spouses and for other family members. These terms of endearment make sense to us but not always to strangers. A grandmother who described herself as the “wicked grandmother” when telling her grandson that she wouldn’t do certain things the other grandmother would do. This became her nickname and she still is greeted today by her now adult grandson with “Hey, Wicked.”
When people heard the grandson yell this in an airport, she noted that “People looked at us strangely, with no idea that “wicked” is another word for love.”
There is another classic line about when a phrase means “I love you,” in this case, “As you wish,” from The Princess Bride. This is one of the greatest and most touching of comedies. It stands the test of time. Here’s a clip of “as you wish,” first as uttered by Wesley around 1:00 and Peter Falk, the grandfather, at the end: Princess Bride "As You Wish"
Sending peace and love (with a nod to Ringo) your way,
Glenn
From the archives: