World of Pageantry

I am continually dumbfounded by people putting "In Memory Of" stickers on the backs of their vehicles. I'm also afraid to bring it up anywhere public, for fear of dumping on someone's heartfelt application of said stickers. I don't care how elaborate they are...what is the point? How does this honor someone? How long could a sticker possibly last? When do you peel them off? At least if you plant a tree, it grows, tombstones last a long time, money donated to the cause fighting what killed your love one can do good, or even volunteering for said organization. Helping others is a good way to work through despair. But a sticker? What gives?

Another one...when you decorate your house numbers on the curb, fine. When you put the logo of your college team...or the Marines, aren't you really just putting your team literally in the gutter?

Maybe those "in memory of" stickers help pay for funeral costs and what not.


I follow flag etiquette for college/patriotic logos and what not thats on paper or cloth.

I didn't know anyone cared. I sure don't.

The Aceman wrote:I didn't know anyone cared. I sure don't.

...cold...


i've wondered about this too. what happens when you wanna sell the vehicle? why put this on a vehicle to begin with? it seems a bit superficial to me.

Ex Nihilo wrote:what happens when you wanna sell the vehicle?

Uh, you peel them off, just like you would a bumper sticker.

I'm with Aceman; I really don't care. At least these stickers don't actively irritate me like those stupid child-praising ones: "My child was in the 50% percentile at Doofus Elementary." Bah.

My window sticker says "My Give A Damn is Busted" (combo of not caring about YOUR issues and my frustration level runnning over) ... which is a fancy way of saying "I Don't Care".

In answer to the OP ... a friend sold the "In Memory of ..." stickers to defer one of her friend's funeral costs. Said girl was killled by a drunk driver (who of course walked away and spent no time in jail for the murder). The girl was 13 at the time. I suppose there's a "better" or "other" ways of raising money, but people want to feel like 1) they are doing something to help and 2) getting something in return for their investment ... the stickers fulfill both needs. The "tradition" here is to remove the sticker at the 1 year anniversary of the person's passing.

As far as the "My Kid is ..." stickers, my favorites are:
"My kid was inmate of the month at [your county] Juvenile Hall"
"My kid can beat up your Honor Student"
"My kid sells term papers to your Honor Student"
"My kid's only a C-Student, but I really like bumper stickers"

fieldshowqueen wrote: As far as the "My Kid is ..." stickers, my favorites are:
"My kid was inmate of the month at [your county] Juvenile Hall"
"My kid can beat up your Honor Student"
"My kid sells term papers to your Honor Student"
"My kid's only a C-Student, but I really like bumper stickers"

I like "my dog is smarter than your honor student".

fieldshowqueen wrote:As far as the "My Kid is ..." stickers, my favorites are:
"My kid was inmate of the month at [your county] Juvenile Hall"
"My kid can beat up your Honor Student"
"My kid sells term papers to your Honor Student"
"My kid's only a C-Student, but I really like bumper stickers"

Sorry, but nothing will ever top:

"My kid was BEATEN BY WHITEY at Rodney King Elementary."

I laughed for 26.5 minutes after seeing that one.

Ex Nihilo wrote:

The Aceman wrote:I didn't know anyone cared. I sure don't.

...cold...


i've wondered about this too. what happens when you wanna sell the vehicle? why put this on a vehicle to begin with? it seems a bit superficial to me.

Not cold, just honest.

On my old car I had a bumper sticker that said, "This car protected by anti-theft sticker." Worked to, never got broken into.

While we're on the subject of bumper stickers ... here's some of the cleaner ones I've liked over the years (and driving 100 miles to and from work every day, I've seen quite a few):

"The fact that no one understands you does NOT make you an artist"
"Things get better with age ... I'm approaching magnificent"
"Frodo Failed ... Bush has the Ring"
"Life just hasn't been the same since that house fell on my sister"
"I'm NOT old ... your music really does suck"
"Earth First ... we'll destroy the other planets later"
"Women Love Exclamation Points!!!!!!!! (But they hate periods)"
"What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?"
"I'm having an Out-of-Money experience"
"I am Nobody. Nobody is Perfect. Therefore, I am Perfect."
"You obviously stopped to think ... and forgot to start again"
"Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult"
"Dyslexic devil worshippers sell their souls to Santa"
"Errors have been made ... Others will be blamed"
"Finish your beer ... there are sober people in China"
"Tact is for People Who are Not Smart Enough to be Sarcastic"
"It takes a lot of balls to play golf the way I do"

and more "My Kid" stickers:
"My kid has A.D.D. ... and a couple of C's"
"Your kid's an Honor Student ... but you're a Moron"
"My Parrot Can Talk ... Can Your Honor Student Fly?"

fieldshowqueen wrote:In answer to the OP ... a friend sold the "In Memory of ..." stickers to defer one of her friend's funeral costs. Said girl was killled by a drunk driver (who of course walked away and spent no time in jail for the murder). The girl was 13 at the time. I suppose there's a "better" or "other" ways of raising money, but people want to feel like 1) they are doing something to help and 2) getting something in return for their investment ... the stickers fulfill both needs. The "tradition" here is to remove the sticker at the 1 year anniversary of the person's passing.

Ah! That makes sense! It's even something I can get on board with.

fieldshowqueen wrote:driving 100 miles to and from work every day

Tell me you're joking. No, really. That's a REALLY big number.

mkosbie wrote:

fieldshowqueen wrote:driving 100 miles to and from work every day

Tell me you're joking. No, really. That's a REALLY big number.

I moved to Moreno Valley in 1988 ... I worked in Fullerton (50.2 miles one way). The morning drive was about 45 to 50 minutes back then; afternoon was about 50 to 55 minutes. In about 1998 the office moved to the old TRW building in "The Block" (next to the 5/57/22 interchange). It didn't change the mileage much but added 20 minutes to the commute because of the extra interchange I had to fight my way through (91/57). When the commute became 2 1/2 to 3 hours one way (5 to 6 hours daily) to get to and from work (just to work for 8 hours), and the head honchos didn't trust me enough to work from home even though 80% of my job was doing pass thru queries and coding which didn't have to be done from a cubicle, I decided to "retire" and raise my kids. My car thanked me.

mkosbie wrote:

fieldshowqueen wrote:driving 100 miles to and from work every day

Tell me you're joking. No, really. That's a REALLY big number.

It's really not that surprising. One of my wife's co-workers lives in Wildomar. She drives from Wildomar to downtown San Diego each day for work: 70 miles each way.

Hostrauser wrote:

mkosbie wrote:

fieldshowqueen wrote:driving 100 miles to and from work every day

Tell me you're joking. No, really. That's a REALLY big number.

It's really not that surprising. One of my wife's co-workers lives in Wildomar. She drives from Wildomar to downtown San Diego each day for work: 70 miles each way.

A friend of mine is graduating from college this May, and he got a job with a company in Helena, MT. He and his fiancee live together here in Bozeman, and she's still going to be a student, so he worked it out so he's going to work one day a week from home and Monday-Thursday he will commute everyday to Helena from Bozeman, which is almost exactly 100 miles each way. He even swapped his turbo WRX for a Honda Accord for better gas mileage.