Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Klarna’s a —

A multiple-choice question:

“Now you can pay for all of your joy-sparking moments with Klarna.” Klarna is

a. a goddess who provides joy-sparking moments

b. a goddess who punishes those who enjoy joy-sparking moments

c. “the smooothest and safest way to get what you want today, and pay over time”
The correct answer is c. But it’s strange: c. sounds like a combination of a. and b. Buy now, pay later. And you will pay. Because you know what they say about Klarna: Klarna’s a — no, that’s karma. Never mind.

I found the sentence about joy-sparking moments at Marie Kondo’s website, where I marveled, briefly, at the possibility that someone would spend $49.99 for a box. Fresca just made a painting of the box, complete with electricity.

[Unless it’s a Hobson’s choice, isn’t any matter of choice a “multiple choice”? “Multiple choice” reminds me of “compare and contrast,” which Bryan Garner calls “an English teacher’s redundancy.”]

comments: 4

Fresca said...

Thanks for putting me onto the latest Buy A Box™ scheme.
I am eating oatmeal and I almost lost a mouthful reading, "I marveled, briefly, at the possibility that someone would spend $49.99 for a box."


Michael Leddy said...

But Fresca, it’s “designed to slide.” How many boxes can say that?

Joe DiBiase said...

If you find it hard to believe that people would spend $50 on a (slidable) box, you might want to check out Goop ... many ways to spend ridiculous amounts on (frequently questionable) products, many NSFW.

Here's a nice candle for a very reasonable $175. There are other candles that are a little hard to believe.

Michael Leddy said...

I’m aware of Goop and their more dubious offerings but didn’t know about their prices. At least they include matches with the candle. I wonder how people ever managed to meditate without a $175 candle to help.