ONLY IN CALIFORNIA
Brad DeLong laments that the recall circus is helping California “recapture the proud title of Doofus State that Florida had snatched away with its impressive performance in the 2000 presidential election.”
He adds,
But it’s not just in politics that California is the Doofus State. Consider the Odwalla Company, manufacturer of the excellent–delicious–wonderful–ambrosianic–Summertime Lime Quencher, which may be the best cold drink in the universe (and if it isn’t, adding some vodka will surely fix that). Look on the side, where the Odwalla Company lists the ingredients:
1. Water.
2. Lime juice.
3. Organic evaporated cane juice (10%).Now I ask you, would a company anyplace other than California call “sugar” by the name of “organic evaporated cane juice”? It’s C6H12O6 either way. Does the Odwalla Company think that we are too stupid here in California to know that when you take “organic cane juice” and “evaporate” the water from it, what is left is what the hoi polloi call “sugar”? Does the Odwalla Company think that we Californians will scorn their product if they are rude enough to actually write S-U-G-A-R on the side of the bottle, just as supposedly Victorian ladies would gasp if anyone referred to the “legs” of a table or to the “enceinteness” of a cat?
Heh. Although, I must confess, the phrase didn’t immediately trigger “sugar” in my synapses, either.
This reminds me of my Army days. Some MRE packets contained a powdered drink mix that one could reconstitute with water. Emblazoned on the packet in large black letters was “with ascorbic acid.” Why they didn’t call it “Vitamin C” like everyone else escapes me.
