Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A Cookie by Any Other Name

I’ve felt bad for Dolores lately. Without going into too much detail, I’ll simply say that she has been very busy at work lately.

I know that this blog is one of her little joys in life…and that when she has an extended period of “un-updating-i-ness” she feels bad. Seeing her exhausted from work is bad enough; I don’t want this blog stuff (which is supposed to be fun) exacerbating her situation. That is where I come in. I’m going to take it upon myself to contribute something to the blog right now. Give Dolores one less thing to worry about.
Here’s the problem; I have nothing to write about. Wait; never mind…just thought of something. Ok, this is a topic that has undoubtedly received a lot of attention over the past couple of years. No, I’m not talking about healthcare reform. I’m talking, of course, about all of this name changing activity taking place in the world of Girl Scout Cookies…most notably, the change from “Samoas” to “caramel delights”.

I can only assume that the name change was spurred on by some sort of Samoan Rights Activist, sick of his (or her) peoples’ legacy being linked to a chocolate, caramel and coconut concoction typically sold door to door by little girls in the suburbs. But really…is a cookie the worst thing that a nationality can be associated with? Let’s try out a little game of word association. I’ll type a Nationality…you pause for a second and think of an association and move on. Ok, ready?

WORD 01: Polish

WORD 02: Kazakhstanian

WORD 03: German

Ok, you probably thought of the words stupid, Borat and Nazis there. Comparatively…a cookie doesn’t seem so bad huh?

Granted, Caramel Delights is not such an awful name; it’s descriptive, it gets the job done…but at the end of the day, it just lacks personality. Imagine if Steve Jobs had decided to go with the name “Digital pocket music player” instead of “iPod”…I don’t think Apple would be where they are today. Additionally, one could argue that the name “Samoa” is, in fact, very descriptive. Think about it. Both of them are kind of brown, both of them are often round, both of them are striped and delicious. The name just makes sense.

Ok, I’m done. If anybody was offended by anything above…lighten up. I’m obviously joking. In all seriousness, I doubt the cookie (Samoa) and the people (Samoan) are even linked. The cookie’s name probably comes from something like a little kid mumbling the words “gimme sa moa” (give me some more). When his mother heard this, she probably exclaimed “that’s genius…we should call the cookies ‘samoas’…we’ll sell a million”. And you know what? She was right.

-Chris

10 comments:

  1. My ancestors didnt fight in the Samoan Civil War just to be named after your cookie. Weve LONG prided ourselves on our large, doughy, delicious heritage and have come too far to be mocked.

    D-Maj

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  2. So am i now supposed to decorate my living room with Samoans? Where can I find them? And are they as comfortable to sit on as day laborers?

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  3. I *heard* that the name switchero had to do with copyrighting issues. Apparently, the girl scouts switched baking facilities a few years back. The one that they had been using had copyrighted the name "Samoas" so the girls scouts couldn't legally use it once they switched to a different bakery. I say the girl scouts, if anyone, deserve a free pass. They're the girl scouts for crying out loud! Down with corporate baking facilities!!! Big virtual hugs to dLo! :)

    P.S. If you guys would like to order cookies, I have a source! :)

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  4. So now I feel like a horrible person for saying I wish the blog wasnt updated enough...
    :( Blogs should never bring anyone stress. Dlo I hope that work/life gets less stressful...

    I most def. agree with your assessment of the similarities. Great job on that.

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  5. Too funny! And I don't care what they're called, this is my favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie! I could eat the whole box in one sitting.

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  6. I've never had a 'samoa' cookie--don't know anyone from Samoa. I'm thinking my opinion is irrelevant here. Never mind.

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  7. They are my favorite girl scout cookie. Even better out of the freezer. You will almost break a tooth, but they are delish!

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  8. Troy Polamalu is at the door, and he would like to have a word about your snack choices.

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  9. A samoa by any other name...is still delicious, but I think we can all agree that the new name is inferior to the cookie. It's like when they demoted Pluto. Sure Pluto is still out there, but suddenly my childhood associations have been rearranged like a bad purple and pink room on Trading Spaces.

    I mean, if you're going to change a dearly beloved name, you'd better come up with something provocative and enticing. Caramel Delight doesn't cut it.

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  10. They've always been called Carmel Delights in my part of the country.

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