Keeping Birthday Cards a Long, Long Time

How long are you supposed to keep a birthday card after your birthday? I’ve always usually kept them a week or two, and then throw them out. Only super special ones, like those handmade by my boys, get kept beyond that time.

One I’m about to throw out is one of those new musical Hallmark cards. The front says, in the Star Wars scroll look, “A long, long time ago. . .” Opening it up starts the Star Wars theme music, and the text inside says, “You were born.” It’s actually pretty cool for a Star Wars geek, like me. I’ve opened it a dozen times in the past couple weeks just to hear the music. I’m debating keeping this card till the battery runs out and it won’t play anymore.

As cool as the music is, the card makes me laugh at myself every time I look at it. Any Star Wars geek can tell you that the correct line is, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” You see: “A long time ago,” not “A long, long time ago.” The double adjective in the real Star Wars text is “far.”

Yes, I am that pedantic. And when I laugh with this card, I’m fully conscious that I’m not laughing at the card or the writer or the person who gave it to me; I’m laughing at myself for knowing the correct wording, and noticing and caring that it is wrong on the card.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com