A Short Rant Against Greeting Cards

I was browsing for two greeting cards and as usual there was -- in my mind -- the usual selection of crap: flowers on cards for women, golf courses on cards for men.

I decided on an anniversary card for my parents that addressed them as "Mother and Dad" instead of "Mom and Dad" or "Mom and Father." A few other cards used the same address, like "mother" is supposed to be so much more elegant and dad's not going to read the card anyway so let's just call him dad. And why do cards have so much printed text? Does anyone who receives such a card actually read the poem, stopping after every line to hear the rhyme? My eyes always glaze over whenever I see a cardful of text, though I guess someone out there must like such cards since there are so many of them for sale.

Filed in: Culture