Connections...

[alexpgp]

So there we were, Galina and I, at a few minutes short of 9 pm, standing at the bus stop and waiting for the Valenciana bus, which would take us back to our hotel. We were freshly "released" from the tour van after nearly an 11-hour stint visiting a number of other places in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, we had less than 12 hours before we were supposed to be on the road headed for the airport for the trip home, and we had absolutely nothing in the fridge (nor was there any place to eat that I was aware of in the vicinity of the hotel). All we had on hand at the room were some rolls in the breadbasket and two-thirds of a container of Búfalo hot sauce.

I glanced into a doorway at the bus stop and saw two women getting ready to close their shop for the day. There was a refrigerated display in the store, and a package caught my eye:


My immediate reaction, after realizing the package contained ham, was to mentally pronounce the name to thyme with "mud," the way we used to pronounce the word in the Borland marketing department, back in the day.

FUD stood for "fear, uncertainty, and doubt." It was, without putting too fine a point on it, the stuff you wanted to fill people's minds with should they consider an alternative to what you were offering.

Of course, it was never stated in just that way. The other side, you see, engages in spreading FUD and in other underhanded tactics, while we—of the pure soul and unsullied conscience—merely provide objective information that is of inestimable value when making decisions. The tactic, by the way, has been known to be adopted by politicians as well, from time to time.

And then it hit me... in Spanish, the pronunciation of the brand name was: "food," which is not to say that the syllable means anything food-related in Spanish; if memory serves, food is described by words like comida or alimento in Spanish. Pronunciation and meaning aside, we darted into the store, bought the ham, and ate ham sandwiches for dinner (and breakfast, too!). Yum!

Cheers...

Comments

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

When I see "Fud," I think of that Larsen cartoon, with the dog hiding in the background thinking, "Oh, please, please..." while the family cat ponders entering the clothes dryer that has the sign "Cat Fud" taped on it.