Is It Good?

Dear Peter,

You should probably always ask "Is it good?" The Traigs don't mean to mislead, but sometimew we can't help ourselves, Vicky especially. Two cases in point:

Holidays, 2004, dinner at my sister's restaurant:

Me: Is the soup vegetarian?

Vicky: Yep!

Me: This is awful.

Vicky: You asked if it was vegetarian. You didn't ask if it was good.

Holidays, 2005, renting DVDs.

Me (holding Be Cool): You’ve seen this. Should we rent it?

Vicky: Yep!

Movie is so unwatchably bad we manage only thirty minutes of slack-jawed horror before turning it off.

Me: What the hell?

Vicky: You asked if it you should rent it. You didn't ask if it was good.

Anyway, I said you should read it. I didn't say it was good. I liked it, though. My two favorite parts: when the six year-old boy is in line to see the midnight vampire movie, smoking, and puts his cigarette out on his mother's derriere; and when the middle school principal acknowledges they've made some progress by getting the children to understand they can't smoke in class. As Vicky used to say: Quel Swayze!

-- Jenny