09 June 2010

#!@?&*

We threw a big shindig for my father-in-law's birthday over the weekend - tent, bartender, surprise guests, kielbasa, lobster rolls, strawberries, Cool Whip, fat cherries flown in from California, Flying Saucers, and champagne. [He has an expansive palate, ranging from a taste for fine wine and lobsters to a deep love of the highly processed.]

During the planning process, someone suggested getting custom M&Ms to tie up in little bags as party favors. You can only have two lines of 8 characters each, but we cleverly came up with:

Nick's
#!@?&*th

My sister-in-law went ahead and ordered them, only to get a phone call from the company telling her that they wouldn't print #!@?&* because it was a bad word and they were a family company. Despite Cathy's protestation that #!@?&* isn't a word at all, they wouldn't budge, and we ended up with:

Nick's
Big Bday



It wasn't nearly as much fun as #!@?&* would have been. Weigh in. Is #!@?&* a dirty word? Hell, is it even a word?


[I see that Blogger doesn't much like the characters either. Check out the way it converted the permalink.]

19 comments:

  1. That is either totally insane or certifiably stupid. Huh.

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  2. makes me want to test them...

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  3. Anonymous5:27 PM

    I wonder if they would have issues with certain emoticons, too.

    I think their explanation is malarkey; the symbols probably don' t look good on the teensy M&Ms.

    We celebrated my MILs 80th Sunday. It was very civilized, considering the lead up nearly caused a rift in the family.

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  4. It isn't any kind of word, bad or otherwise. If anything it is an anti-bad word.

    In any case, you lost me at Cool Whip. WTF is up with that?

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  5. That makes me lose my appetite for the chocolate. Not the word, but their attitude of it.

    I guess I can't order any with real curse words?

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  6. Cripes, if you're old enough to want *&^^& on your birthday m&m's surely you're old enough to have fake curses on your m&m's. Dumbass. es.

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  7. I do have a weakness for Cool Whip. And I don't think #!@?&* is a word! How silly.

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  8. What a fun party. I love kielbasa--though I can only tolerate the turkey kind any more.

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  9. Whaaaa—? That's insanity. I guess I'll have to cancel my order for "Jean's Birthday Clusterf*ck" M&Ms.

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  10. so wholesome they won't even bleep.

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  11. You mean &^^%$# the bad word formerly known as (&^$@! ?

    ;-D

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  12. Oh come on -- that's pretty funny!

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  13. The Mars company is secretive and crazy so it doesn't surprise me that they'd think a strand of symbols would stand for a "bad" word. Sigh.

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  14. Seriously Blogger? BLOG-POST?

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  15. some people (and companies) just have no sense of humor

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  16. Mmmmm Mmm. Flying Saucers are #!@?&* rad!

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  17. wondering if they'd reject something like:

    nick's
    censored

    or

    nick's
    xxxxxxxx

    or

    nick's
    (bleep)

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  18. That permalink should have been "big blog post".

    I might have gone with "Nick's mmmmth"

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  19. I bet they wouldn't have minded if you'd chosen "Nick's Fucking Birthday." Except for the too many letters problem.

    Actually, one of my best friend's husbands is the head of Mars Europe. Next time, let me handle it, kay? :)

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