Wednesday, July 8, 2009

"W Is For Wide" and "Cow Suits"

You know how women's clothing comes in Misses sizes and then goes up to Women's sizes? And that Women's sizes are cut a bit larger and are identified by a W after the number? And that W stands for "Women's?"

Well, I was in a store today and heard a woman ask for a dress in a particular woman's size; I don't want to mention certain sizes but let's just say (for the sake of this story) it was a sixteen.

This woman walked up to the clerk and said, "Do you have this dress in a size 16 WIDE?"

The clerk did an admirable job of keeping herself composed. She said, "Excuse me? What size did you say you needed?"

The woman said very confidently, "A 16 WIDE."

Now I have worn (in the not so distant past) a size 14 myself, so a 16 W is not too far away from where I've lived. But I've always been sort of comforted by the fact that "W" stands for "Women" and not WIDE.

I will never again look at a "W" without thinking of that dear lady and her question that brought a great big (WIDE) smile to my day!

And as you have probably already surmised, yes, I did feel well enough today to go out and hit a couple thrift/consignment stores. After sleeping on and off most of the day yesterday, it was great to feel a little bit more normal today. I have a teeny bit of lingering pain but all in all, I think I'm recovering from whatever weird thing was going on.

And don't worry; if I start feeling any worse, I promise I WILL go do a doctor.

Before I close, let me talk about a guest book question. Krista from Boise, ID is not familiar with Chick-Fil-A and asked a very reasonable question, "Why does a restaurant featuring chicken dress up its employee in a cow suit?"

Adena (very helpfully) answered, "They use a cow rather than a chicken because part of the marketing strategy is "Eat Mo Chickin'" from the perspective of a cow. It just wouldn't be the same coming from the mouth of a chicken!"

It didn't occur to me when I wrote about it that Chick-Fil-A wasn't a national chain of restaurants; Kristin had every reason to be puzzled by that whole concept of cows at a chicken place!

Alrighty then. I am signing off and headed to bed. I just wanted to write about the "wide question" before I forgot it. It made me smile all day.

9 Had Something To Say (Just click here!):

Lyndsay said...

Wide! That's awesome. It probably made that lady's day too - she discovered that she wears "women's" clothes, not "wide" clothes.

Thanks for the smile!

Anonymous said...

Becky,
I love reading your blog and have been following your family since the caringbridge days. You posts are very funny and it is a joy to see you and your family enjoying life. I am de-lurking tonight to ask if you would ask our fellow prayer warriors to pray for my friend Dave. Dave is a friend of mine who I met in college who is currently studying abroad in Ecuador. Yesterday morning he was found unresponsive and taken to a hospital. It was found that he had a unexplained brain bleed and is currently in a coma. Please help me pray for him and his family as they travel to be with their son, and make decisions on whether it is safe for him to fly back home to Michigan to be treated or if brain surgery must be done in Ecuador. Dave is just about Nathan's age and he reminds me very much of him as I enjoy your posts.
Thanks,
Lilly

Marysienka said...

hehehe @ the "W" story ;) Thanks for the smile!

You know, I often hear about Chick-Fil-A in American blogs. Being a Canadian, I have no idea what it is/looks like (well, I do have a small idea...). If I go to the States and see one someday (so far, no luck), I'll stop by for sure (because I'm curious like that! - oh and what about Taco Bell??!) ;) I just hope to figure out what the name of the this restaurant means by then, though! (put that on the fact that English is not my 1st language. I probably just don't understand the concept behind "Chick-Fill-A").

Ok I'm so writing a novel here. That's enough!

Good night,

Renee

Anonymous said...

I live in the Pacific NW and just heard of Chick-Fil-A this past year from a friend in Houston who talked about it like it was common knowledge. We have Burgerville int he NW and in the SW (creeping North) El Pollo Loco and In-n-out Burger...and on Whidbey Island we have the one of a kind Toby's which is what I'll stick with any day.

Pam D said...

Chick-fil-A is short for chicken filet. And it all started out as the Dwarf Grill.. doesn't THAT make sense? Truitt Cathy is one amazing man; Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays due to his committment to faith and family; 1/7th of his potential income is willingly eliminated so that his employees can always have Sunday off. He started a camp in south Georgia called Camp WinShape, and from all that I've heard, it is a GREAT summer camp for kids. It's goal is to shape kids into winners. Here's a link to the WinShape foundation, which does lots more than just the camp:
http://www.winshape.org/
Can you tell I'm a Chick-fil-A fan? heh. I suppose I hear more about Mr. Cathy and his restaurants because I live in Georgia, home of Chick-fil-A! I cannot think of a better fit for Nathan as a place of employment...

Catherine said...

Salvation Army has half price day on Wednesday so I left with an armful of things today. Mother in law is going into the hospital for double staged knee replacement and needed some light short housecoats, and I found some goodies for her.

I scored a Lanz nightgown for myself that looks brand new for $2 and some other cute things. Also bought a bunch of great VHS tapes for $1 apiece!

Wish we could go "thrifting" together, Becky.

Carolyn Stephenson said...

Hey Becky! What a revelation. All this time I've been asking for directions to the Tall Huskies department. Had no idea I should have been looking for the Wide department. Which reminds me of the clothing store name I've always wanted someone to use. However, even Carolyn's Dare has her limits-and I won't divulge that name here! Do you remember?

Marysienka said...

OOOh thank you Pam D.! I get it now... looks like this chain is great!!

krueth said...

delurking to say....ha ha ha about the wide clothing. My neice a couple years ago after having 3 children close together was out with us and we were talking clothing and she said, LOL that she wore a size 18 wide....LOL I just looked at her and guffawed, and said.. WIDE? I think you mean Womens, and her respose was, well, I am wide and I thought it was W for Wide... so funy...Thanks for the good blogging though. I love to keep up with you adn the family clear up here in northern Minnesota...