Vermin specialists?
OK, so the other day I was riding my bike and I got stuck on a sidestreet behind a pest control truck.
Normally, bikers in Manhattan are kind of like octupii — we can slither around and squeeze between anything: pedestrians, trucks, mailboxes, etc. and so on. But every once in a while, the truck’s too close to a curb, which has a poorly placed mailbox, and some other guy pulls right up on your left to the bumper and you are stuck — temporarily, of course, until the light turns green.
Anyway, I had 10-15 seconds to kill, standing there in the street on my bike, so I read the back of the truck. I forget the name of the company, but that’s not important now.
On the left side of the truck, it said “Pest Control”. On the right side it said “Vermin Specialists”.
And I laughed.
Then, I wanted to know why I laughed. Like, was it appropriate?
You know…sometimes, you see something, and your brain does all these subconscious calculations, and then you deduce that it’s funny, and you laugh. But, because the calculations are subconscious, you don’t really fully comprehend why you laughed.
Anyway, it got me thinking about the word ‘vermin’, so I came home and went to m-w.com and looked it up.
The first definition they had was “small common harmful or objectionable animals (as lice or fleas) that are difficult to control”.
And that’s what I thought. I thought, “vermin is a general term. How can you be a ’specialist’ in vermin?”
Then, as I am a gemini, I started thinking about the other side of the argument…conducting a mock debate inside my head. (It’s always best to be able to argue both sides of any argument, you know.)
The answer is, of course, while vermin is in fact a general term, it does have a specific context (i.e., animals you don’t want around).
So then, my other side retorts…”OK, I can see that. But, the thing is…they already indicated — on the left side of the truck — that they are in the business of ‘pest control’. So doesn’t that make them ‘vermin specialists’ by proxy? I mean, isn’t it redundant? What self-respecting pest controller doesn’t specialize in vermin?”
This, agreed my other side, does in fact present a problem. You see…had it said, “Pest Control….We specialize in rats”, that would have made a lot more sense, although it probably would have limited them to an undesirable marketing niche.
Anyway…at least I uncovered the root of the humor (for me, at least)…and who knew that it was even multi-layered humor? And all on the back of a pickup truck.