Thursday, September 5, 2013

Same on the Outside




I bought a box of ice cream sandwiches at the market today. Don’t judge me; it’s hot out. Plus, I was swayed by the fact that the box contained two different sandwich flavors: chocolate and vanilla. And if you don’t know this about me, I like a little variety when it comes to my desserts.
 


To clarify, it’s the ice cream part that comes in two different flavors; the outer cookie is the same chocolate flavor throughout the box. 

And in that way, my box of ice cream sandwiches reminds me of then and than. 

Like my ice cream sandwiches, then and than are the same on the outside: 

TH N

It’s the inside that really makes them different.

If there’s an a on the inside, it’s used to compare:

In general, I like chocolate more than vanilla.
 
And if there’s an e on the inside, it means “at that time” or “next in order of time or place.”

Back then, I could eat ten chocolate ice cream sandwiches then ten vanilla sandwiches.

And now that we’ve got that straight, we can all enjoy this:
 
 
However, if I absolutely had to choose between cuddling and sex, and it was with the twins in the picture above, I know which activity I'd rather do than the other. And so no one would feel left out, I'd do it with one twin then the other. 

17 comments:

Andrew Leon said...

That is my pet peeve of words, right now. I have quit following blogs of (writer) people that don't know how to use them correctly. And it's always "then" for everything. Poor "than" always gets left out.

DiscConnected said...

Don't keep us in suspense...which activity is it you want to do with the twins?

Oh, right...eat ice cream sandwiches.....first chocolate, then vanilla.....

Duncan D. Horne - the Kuantan blogger said...

Whoa! You're getting a bit hot under the collar now!

Thanks for the post

Teaching English with Mr. Duncan

Shelly said...

Ha! And if an i is in the middle instead of a or e, it means my diet is working.

Anonymous said...

If it's Thyn, it's a type of condom.

the late phoenix said...

this post got me hotter than...and then i...

Jemi Fraser said...

Then they all lived happily ever after :)

Theresa Milstein said...

I love that poster. I'm sharing it on Facebook.

Jessica Bell said...

It's so easy to make these mistakes when hastily writing. It's when it happens ALL the time that you start to realize that maybe the writer actually doesn't know the difference. I commonly screw up my "they're their, there" when in a hurry. Just want to point out to Andrew Leon, that it doesn't necessarily make the "writer" stupid. Sometimes the brain slips when trying to right fast. (yeah, that last one was on purpose. :-)

Andrew Leon said...

@Jessica: I didn't call anyone stupid.

Jessica Bell said...

I know that, Andrew. I was just pointing out that these things can sometimes be innocent mistakes. :-)

Andrew Leon said...

And I wasn't talking about when it happens once or twice. I'm talking about when it's always like that, when the person always uses "then" rather than "than." There comes a point when it crosses my tolerance threshold, especially when it's someone that ought to know the difference.

Jessica Bell said...

Looks like we are pretty much saying the the same thing then.

Stephanie said...

Someone tagged me in that post on Facebook — the cuddle/sex one, not the babetwins. It is funny (although I confess I had to read it twice — the first time I automatically substituted the correct word) but I do prefer the babetwins.

Nas said...

Love the post and er...the poster too!

Anonymous said...

I always get the two confused and although I generally pick the right one I never really knew the rule. Thanks for sharing and in a way I will definitely remember with the two twins in mind ;)

JJ said...

yeah. the twins look good. yum.