Thursday, November 15, 2012

-Ables 12: Shakeables


From our good buddy, Orville! Were you under the impression that once you popped your popcorn, or even perhaps before, that you were unable or not allowed to shake it.. shake it, baby, shake it? Has this been an ongoing concern for you, your family, or friends? Venture out from under that misconception, Orville beckons us. His product is undeniably shakable! "Real"* and shakeable! New and gourmet!

Notice all the assurances that the buttermilk and "Ranch" are real. I think Orville doth protest too much. 0 transfat and real buttermilk? Yeah, right.

-Ables 11: Noticeables


Oh, Febreze, I should think that if you're going to bring a deodorizer to market, that it certainly and expectedly would be, at a minimum, noticeable. Money back otherwise. That's not to say you wouldn't still sell them successfully if you were to go so far as to put "Absolutely and Completely NOT Noticeable" on the label, as is evidenced by the propensity of some people to fall for homeopathy nonsense.

The meme is continued with the appearance of our old friend, pluralising 's'.

Aside from that, let's take a look at the aromas you've chosen here. 'Vanilla', alright, understandable. 'Refresh'... You've lost me. Now that's ripe with descriptive clarity, isn't it(?) If jumping on the meme wagon was too strenuous for your creative noggins, Febreze, you could have just said so.

-Ables 10: Munchables


Not to be outdone by Oscar Mayer and their wienery bologna and bologny wieners, Nabisco shows us it can play along. Munchables was an easy one. Just take the 'L' off of Lunchables and put an 'M' in its place! Take that, Oscar!
And for all those marginally challenged among us, the recipe of the item is right on the front- picture of pretzel + picture of cracker.
I'm not acknowledging you again, 'Crunchables'. You had to replace 2 whole letters.

-Ables 9: Lunchables

Hello, Lunchables! This is the product that got me started on the -Ables meme.
It was if to say, "these items, which you would usually only label as 'snack food' (Addition of 'food' is acknowledged as arguable.), can, in fact and in practice, be consumed as a lunch, kids*.
And just so there's no question, take note that this particular selection is "deluxe".

*Lunchables is a part of a complete lunch, which should necessarily include another, actually complete lunch.

-Ables 8: Lickables


Although 'lickable' isn't in every dictionary, I can certainly get behind it. It should be. However, the nominalising plural 's' throws it back in our meme pot.
Also, what's up with the hyphen? It's reminiscent of 'to-day', 'web-site', and 'back-ground'.
How retro.

-Ables 7: Grapeables


Shall we not even attempt a pretense at style, Fountain Hill's wine? I guess not, after first having conjured an image of a fountain of wine, might as well go for the  -Ables meme. On top of that, and I suppose appropriately enough, your location is a 'spot' on the 'lakeside'. Could very well be a cabana bar. Does it come in a box? I'm guessing, yes. 
Am I too harsh?

-Ables 2: Crunchables


You are hereby notified that the product can be "crunched". Not only are you apprised of this, but you are also instructed peripherally, to get the noun form of that verb "on". Whether this is like getting your trousers on or getting your brat on the next train to summer camp, we may never ascertain. But whatever it may mean, rest assured by the product's appellation, that the action is entirely conceivable within the realm of endeavors. 

-Ables 3: Dunkables



Dunkables are here to quiet your guilt for plunging your little brothers head under the water at the ol' swimming hole, despite the inconvenience of his not having been able to swim.. or breathe under water for that matter. It's alright now. In fact, it's designed directly into the retail commodity for your enjoyment, without consequence.
But shall we dunk an unnamed item into the product, such as perhaps our baby brother, or are we meant to dunk the product into some unidentified object or substance? Perhaps there are further directions inside the box.

-Ables 4: Friendlyable


Disneyland has the capability to be friendly, we see, but this doesn't guarantee that it actually will be.
This specimen lacks the expected plural ending, letting the expression remain adjectival. It makes up for that failing, however, by attaching our star suffix to an as equally inappropriate adverb. Not only that, but we're notified that it is described thusly to quite a protracted extent, by the "so" submodifier, as well as the exclamation point, subtly separated from the interjection by a friendly captain's hat.
We'll give the ad a pass on its unpolished form, as it's easily the oldest of the collection.

-Ables 5: Fruitables



What might it mean exactly "to fruit"? This is the first example we have where an actual noun is violated with our suffix of note. But is it really?.. Aha! We may have tumbled right into the ploy if not for the clarifying subtext, which reveals the product's moniker having originated with the combination of 'fruit' and 'vegetable', wherein the vegetables had to give considerable ground to the domineering fruit- a clever illustration of a physical blending of the two, as well as a lexical one.

The "Berry Berry" variety (pictured 2nd), is most probably rich in thiamine, as it appears to be a remedy for the nervous system ailment of the same name.

-Ables 6: Funable


Observe another ancient entry from Disney. The noun, 'fun' -yes, noun- may have donned the mantel of adjective in our modern, jetpack, iTelephoned society, but it's never been a verb, folks. And as usual, our favourite adjectival suffix is inappropriately pressing itself against an unsuspecting part of speech for which it is not intended. Oh the humanity!

-Ables 1: Bakeables

Embark with me, if you will, on a voyage not only of probability, but of possibility and capability, a voyage of -ABLES.

Certain products would hope to convey their versatility by incorporating, strangely enough, their single preparation, use or consumption method within the name. Others then jump on the bandwagon, and exploit the resulting apparent cool factor... to a fault. Isn't that always how the market goes? From television & movie themes to toys & snacks. Let's milk the gimmick cow for all it's worth folks, it won't be palatable forever.

This series will explore the variety of products that want you, the consumer, to know that they actually function how they are intended to, and not how they might not intend to. They accomplish this by not only slamming a noun, adjective or other part of speech with an adjectival suffix, but then continuing on the morpho-syntactical roller-coaster ride, wrenching the product name back into the nominal, using the plural 's' or 'es'.
How clever.



First up, Bakeables.. or rather, Bake Ables. The tiny space and ever so slight capitalisation of the second part of the name seems to indicate an incomplete commitment to the "ables" concept. Unfortunately, this also renders a confusing twist for the preparation of a small European river fish, otherwise known as the Common Bleak.

Snickers! (no bacon.. yet)



The giant Reese's needed a playmate. Unfortunately, there isn't a 'with bacon' version yet.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Giant Reese's Are Back!


I guess 10 bucks ain't bad for such a prize. I saw that they also have giant Snickers, giant York Peppermint Patties, and giant Hershey Bars. Each of them weigh 1lb. I'm tempted to get one of each of them, but that would add up quickly.
Sadly, the 1lb Hershey Bars used to be a regular thing for about $2.

It's cute how they have "to: from:" on there, as if I would share this with any scrounging soul, much less give it away!