This may seem to be a contradiction to past posts where I talk about how people get too caught up on words, euphemisms and semantics. But for balance I'll give an example of where words, labels, or titles do have power.
Yesterday I was walking in the grocery store and somewhat in a hurry. I noticed a big rack of "tomato pies". I didn't have time to look close but I'm the type who wants to taste everything once. Also being Italian-American myself I would sure want to be able to say I tried tomato pie. I threw it in the basket to take home. When I tasted it I must say it wasn't bad, but if you look close it is nothing but a well made pizza with no cheese. There is a barely detectable sprinkle of Parmesan as a garnish but not enough to affect the flavor. There were no fillings or special surprises in the crust and the "pie" was not cheap (at least now I can say I tried tomato pie). Now lets say for example one orders a pizza somewhere and gets told they are out of cheese but they can still make a pizza only without the cheese. Even better they can compensate even more and offer to sell it for half price. I know I and many others might say "No thank you." and go for some Chinese instead. I mean I'm not usually a pizza person anyway but take away my favorite part (the cheese) and it would be as boring as a rice cake. Now on the other hand when you see a cheese-less pizza in front of a somewhat upscale grocery store and it is labeled "tomato pie" and kind of overpriced... all of a sudden it seems exotic and special. People see it in a different light. Now of course if I knew that's all it was I don't think I would have got it but I thought there might be something "new" about it that I couldn't see at first glance.
This also shows the importance of presentation and first impressions. I mean once you hand someone a cheese-less pizza when they're not expecting it and tell them to just think of it as a ... "tomato pie" chances are you may end up wearing that so called "pie" over your head and could then think of it as an "Italian-American inspired hat".
Yesterday I was walking in the grocery store and somewhat in a hurry. I noticed a big rack of "tomato pies". I didn't have time to look close but I'm the type who wants to taste everything once. Also being Italian-American myself I would sure want to be able to say I tried tomato pie. I threw it in the basket to take home. When I tasted it I must say it wasn't bad, but if you look close it is nothing but a well made pizza with no cheese. There is a barely detectable sprinkle of Parmesan as a garnish but not enough to affect the flavor. There were no fillings or special surprises in the crust and the "pie" was not cheap (at least now I can say I tried tomato pie). Now lets say for example one orders a pizza somewhere and gets told they are out of cheese but they can still make a pizza only without the cheese. Even better they can compensate even more and offer to sell it for half price. I know I and many others might say "No thank you." and go for some Chinese instead. I mean I'm not usually a pizza person anyway but take away my favorite part (the cheese) and it would be as boring as a rice cake. Now on the other hand when you see a cheese-less pizza in front of a somewhat upscale grocery store and it is labeled "tomato pie" and kind of overpriced... all of a sudden it seems exotic and special. People see it in a different light. Now of course if I knew that's all it was I don't think I would have got it but I thought there might be something "new" about it that I couldn't see at first glance.
This also shows the importance of presentation and first impressions. I mean once you hand someone a cheese-less pizza when they're not expecting it and tell them to just think of it as a ... "tomato pie" chances are you may end up wearing that so called "pie" over your head and could then think of it as an "Italian-American inspired hat".
