Put The Kettle On, America

Another reblog, I’m afraid.  It raises a question that was never answered to my satisfaction.  I have a few more readers now, more than half of you American, so perhaps the answer will be forthcoming this time.

Image via Wikipedia

This is something that has puzzled me for years: are there no electric kettles in the USA?

Watch American movies and tv carefully: whenever a cup of tea or coffee is made, the character fills a kettle and puts it on the stove.  No-one ever plugs a kettle into the wall.  Why is this?  Is there a ban on their use in the media, like there is for cigarettes?  Does the American Government know and is not telling us that electric kettles cause cancer? 

There is also the question of tea: why do Americans drink tea with the bag still in the cup?  I know this is so because the string and label always hang over the side on telly.  The tea must be stewed by the time they get to the bottom of the cup.  No wonder there are so many hairy people in the States.  And don’t get me started on how they drink it the minute the boiling water is poured in – do they all have asbestos lips? 

My own theory is that America has traditionally been a nation of coffee drinkers and directors want to show their characters’ individuality by making it obvious that they are tea drinkers: maverick detective with hirsute trout pout clears name by killing seventy-three queuing assailants with six bullets, and rounds off the day with a nice cup of Earl Grey. Or it could just be a matter of product placement.  But that still doesn’t explain the weird absence of electric kettles.

‘Queuing assailants’ came from a writing class, where we discussed the fact that there are no new stories, then segued into movie clichés: the baddies always take turns fighting the hero instead of rushing him en masse.  It’s usually a him.  He might have – in fact, he will have – a gorgeous female sidekick and she will have a fabulous name and these days can kick butt as well as him, but she will inevitably be captured and be reduced to ‘the girl’: Let the girl go/just give me the girl/blow up the Isle of Man or the girl gets it.  If I am ever captured and the Hub rescues me and I hear him say, ‘Let the girl go,’ the first thing I will do after my grateful smooch will be to kick his butt and leave him for a dentist.  It annoys me.

Then there is the matter of coffee drinkers: we see them in their homes, loading their stove-top kettles or their coffee machines.  Next scene: a cardboard cup of coffee in their hands, bought from Starbucks on the way to fight crime.  What’s that about?  Are the stove-top kettles decoys?  Or a subliminal message…if it ain’t from a street vendor you’re killing the planet?

One final question: do I spend too much time watching tv and worrying about inanities?

Related articles

• How can I find the perfect – green – kettle? (recyclethis.co.uk)
• Put the Kettle On: Keeping Warm from the Inside Out (apartmenttherapy.com)
• coffee vs tea vs ? (livingoverseasandlovingit.wordpress.com)

Joke 323

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  You go up to her and say, “I am very rich. Marry me!”
That’s Direct Marketing. 

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  One of your friends goes up to her, points at you and says, “He’s very rich. Marry him.”
That’s Advertising.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  You go up to her and get her telephone number.  The next day you call and say, “Hi, I’m very rich. Marry me.”
That’s Telemarketing.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  You get up and straighten your tie; you walk up to her and pour her a drink.  You open the door for her; pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, “By the way, I’m very rich. Will you marry me?”
That’s Public Relations. 

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  She walks up to you and says, “You are very rich.”
That’s Brand Recognition.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.  You go up to her and say, “I’m very rich. Marry me.”  She gives you a nice hard slap to the face. 
That’s Customer Feedback.