You Keep "The Change"
Lucia and I take much the same route every day on our walks, and each day I pass the same large vehicle on a street near our with the following decal on the back windshield:
Today I noticed that this person liked this decal so much that he got one for a second vehicle parked near the first as well. I’ve seen this before and, as always, I discreetly rolled my eyes. (Very discreetly, since the presumed owner of the vehicles was tinkering with his large motor home in his driveway. Such a person would tinker in a driveway, and would have a motor home.) But today it struck me how very, very annoying this decal is.
The problem isn’t the first part. Fine; let this lovely person keep his guns. The problem is the quotation marks. I don’t think Obama ran with a slogan called “The Change.” Change was, indeed, his hook. But “The Change”—this is much too menopausal to be a political slogan. To put “The Change” in quotation marks—and to capitalize both words in the phrase—draws attention to itself for all the wrong reasons. You’ll keep your guns, and I’ll keep my hot flashes? What?
Whoever made this decal clearly didn’t parse the punctuation too carefully. Neither the capital letters nor the quotation marks are really needed. “You keep the change”—it doesn’t make much sense, but at least it makes use of a common saying—“keep the change.” If this person were really set on quotation marks, then he or she should have put them only around “change”: “You keep the ‘change’” (smirk).
I’ll keep my money, guns, and freedom
You keep “The Change”
Today I noticed that this person liked this decal so much that he got one for a second vehicle parked near the first as well. I’ve seen this before and, as always, I discreetly rolled my eyes. (Very discreetly, since the presumed owner of the vehicles was tinkering with his large motor home in his driveway. Such a person would tinker in a driveway, and would have a motor home.) But today it struck me how very, very annoying this decal is.
The problem isn’t the first part. Fine; let this lovely person keep his guns. The problem is the quotation marks. I don’t think Obama ran with a slogan called “The Change.” Change was, indeed, his hook. But “The Change”—this is much too menopausal to be a political slogan. To put “The Change” in quotation marks—and to capitalize both words in the phrase—draws attention to itself for all the wrong reasons. You’ll keep your guns, and I’ll keep my hot flashes? What?
Whoever made this decal clearly didn’t parse the punctuation too carefully. Neither the capital letters nor the quotation marks are really needed. “You keep the change”—it doesn’t make much sense, but at least it makes use of a common saying—“keep the change.” If this person were really set on quotation marks, then he or she should have put them only around “change”: “You keep the ‘change’” (smirk).
Comments
That bumper sticker makes me gag.