Warming Up

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Wednesday 21st December 2005

On the way to a party tonight I spotted an advert on the tube which started, "Who says a phone is just for Christmas?"
The answer they gave was basically not anyone who used their particular unit or network, but the correct answer is in fact, "No-one".
No-one has ever said "a phone is just for Christmas" because it clearly isn't the case. A phone is almost the least seasonal gift you can give as it will be used throughout the year, not getting put in a drawer like a pair of novelty farting slippers or getting used up like some aftershave. A phone is definitely not just for Christmas.
Not only that but no-one ever really uses this phrase about anything at all. The original quote is acutally "A dog isn't just for Christmas." It would be a callous person who would claim "A dog is just for Christmas, so enjoy the puppy for the next twelve days and then put it in a sack and chuck it in the river."
You might conceivably say "A Christmas Tree is just for Christmas" but why would you bother? This is fairly implicit in the name "Christmas Tree". The same could be said of "A Christmas Truce is just for Christmas". Any general who didn't understand that would be swiftly demoted.
All in all it's a terrible piece of copywriting and we should all shun the company that it is advertising, which I can't remember. So to be safe, let's not give anyone a phone for Christmas, because a phone isn't just for Christmas. If the advert teaches us anything it is this.