There and Back Again

Pondering: When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him. (Thomas Szasz)

My good friend and co-worker Dina and I went to lunch yesterday to talk about the upcoming performance evaluation of three of the seven managers she directly and I inidirectly manage. (Just noticed how long that sentence is.) It was a hot day, as it has been the last few weeks here in the Bay Area but we decided to head for a Vietnamese Pho restaurant a few blocks from the office. I’ve been to this restaurant before, always ordering the same thing - grilled chicken over vermicelli, which is probably why I never paid attention to the menu.

As we were perusing the list of items, Dina pointed out to me a few of the vermicelli dishes she was pondering and then we chanced upon one item in the menu that both stopped us and sent us guffawing:

Grilled beef and shrimp over vermin.

I don’t think even Andrew Zimmern (from the Discovery Channel’s ‘Bizaare Foods’) will try this one. Hilarious! I know it’s a typo, but it’s a hell of a typo!

Meriam-Webster Dictionary: Main Entry: ver·min. Pronunciation: \ˈvər-mən\. Function: noun. 1: a small common harmful or objectionable animals (as lice or fleas) that are difficult to control b: birds and mammals that prey on game c: animals that at a particular time and place compete (as for food) with humans or domestic animals. 2: an offensive person.