ninemysteries' Journal

Pamper yourself with a treat
Woke up this morning and realised exactly why it is that some weeks ago when accosted by a chirpy woman trying to sell me membership to a health spa with 'Do you like being pampered?' I reacted somewhat frostily, and why it always annoys me slightly when any food even slightly more complicated than a ricecake is referred to as a 'treat'.

I've always thought it was just my world-class sense of entitlement, but it's not. Firstly, it's that 'pampering' and 'treats' are things we fundamentally don't deserve. A shoulder rub or a square of chocolate is a pleasure, but this language turns it into a guilty pleasure; something illicit, rather than something chosen out of full consent or won by one's own work. It's entirely possible that a lot of people actually get a buzz out of that - certainly the 'treat/pampering' advertising seems to work - but I can only assume that that's one of those bits of wiring I haven't got.

Secondly, the only time you run into the word 'pampering' outside the context of health spas is in the context of dogs in diamante collars; and 'treats' only ever seem to be given to pets and children. They used to be given to the inhabitants of workhouses and model factories, but you don't seem to get that so much these days. One does not hear about 'the sixty-thousand pound treat awarded to the executive chairman who turned the company around'.

The advertising often says something like 'pamper yourself' or 'treat yourself' - which might suggest that the woman or dieter should put themselves in the position of the person authorising the undeserved reward as well as that of the recipient - but it still strikes me as a peculiarly unattractive and divisive metaphor. I object to the assumption that chocolate and backrubs are something to be doled out like doggie treats, rather than part of a full life if you want them, and not if they don't happen to be your idea of fun.

To ward off the 'so why do you feel that vehemently about it, then?' comments - I think it's worth pointing these things out rather than letting them swim on with their undertow of meaning unexamined, even if the final reaction is 'yes, well, so what'. There's probably a quotation by George Orwell that explains what I mean, though I can't find it at present.

Current Mood: discontent