I don't know what made me suddenly think of this, but my mind has just popped the answer to a 40-year-old riddle. Now as you'll see, if it had actually been subconsciously working on the problem all of that time, this wouldn't be too impressive, but as far as I can tell what's happened is that my train of thought, as I sat here playing cards and inventing dialogue for The Literary Novel, has happened across a childhood memory that my adult brain solved instantly.
So it's not really been a riddle for forty years, it's just that I've not thought about it since I was about twelve.
We used to have a bunch of cheap blue plastic biros in the bureau at home, which were remarkable only in that they had been heavily embossed with gilt letters spelling out the legend "I'M A BAD-AXE BASTARD." When these pens first turned up at home I asked my Dad where he'd got them. Apparently a friend of his who ran the local trophy (and engraving) centre had given them to him as they were 'surplus to requirements.' He claimed to have no idea what the phrase meant, when I asked him, and knowing my Dad it is at least vaguely feasible that he wasn't just protecting my youthful sensibilities.
With the wisdom of ages now mine (well, those 40 years anyway), I just wish I'd been able to see the look on the face of the customer when he came to collect his pens and realised that it might have been advisable to write down his desired wordage rather than rely on the dodgy hearing of the old guy who ran the shop.
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2 comments:
Do you suppose he actually meant to have "bad ass bastard" on the pens? or was the whole phrase totally bolloxed by the nearly deaf guy lol
Yes, that's the point. "I'm a bad-ass bastard" is exactly what he wanted. Just took me all this time to realise O_O
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