Realm: Philosophizing – Subrealm: Girl Scout Cookies.

[choco_frosh]

A couple of weeks ago, Grace brought home several boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Very welcome, but it got me thinking that they’re a very odd institution.

Institution is indeed the word. They were a part of my childhood: one of the very few non-homemade baked goods I consumed. As such, my brother and I viewed them as unambiguously Of The Good.

Now, of course, I’m much more ambivalent. I’m not going to get into the whole issue of the economics of Girl Scout Cookies. I’m more going to reflect that it’s odd that they should be marketed by Girl Scouts.

Here, an outsider would think, is an organization that, if any, would be devoted to old-fashioned American values like thrift, self-reliance and baked goods. And not Giving In to The Man.*
But no. GSC’s are mass-produced, bearing only a token resemblance to normal baked goods; and, certain rumors to the contrary, girl scouts are not involved in the production process in any way. They are, unquestionably, produced by The Man.

Surely, if we are to have progress in this country, we need to teach our young people to stand on their own feet, and bake their own cookies. Fight the Man! With cookies!

Of course, having the cookie-baking done by girls is not exactly progressive, either. I would therefore like to propose: Boy Scout Cookies! Made locally by real boy scouts, from all-natural ingredients. Other baked goods available on request.
[Boy Scouts of America does not condone the inclusion of controlled substances, wildlife, or cub scouts in their products.]

Ahem. The second odd thing about Girl Scout Cookies…
…is that even within the present definition, they mean different things to different people.
For both Grace and me, they are part of our childhood; but for her, the term evokes Samoas, whereas for me, GSC’s=Thin Mints. It’s an odd cultural phenomenon.

Also: what’s up with naming them after obscure South Pacific ethnic groups? Now I’m wondering whether there’s some obscure island group near Tonga called the Timmint archipelago.

* The Man in general, that is. Not sen_no_ongaku

Comments

[sovay]

For both Grace and me, they are part of our childhood; but for her, the term evokes Samoas, whereas for me, GSC’s=Thin Mints. It’s an odd cultural phenomenon.

The archetypal Girl Scout Cookie is the Thin Mint, but I've always liked Samoas best.

(I was a Girl Scout for six years. I survived.)

[(Anonymous)]

Same here. We BOUGHT Thin Mints; I just liked Samoas better.

Now I'm realizing they pretty much all taste of petroleum byproducts.

-g

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jb/]

Everyone knows that Girl Guide cookies are chocolate or white sandwich cookies (and the chocolate have chocolate filling!), each box divided in half, or once upon a time peanut butter, but they didn't sell well.

Also, no, girl guides have nothing to do with the production. But at least they let us sell door-to-door and you could still make money even if your family didn't have lots, unlike the hated magazine sales. (Not only did my family not have money to order dozens of magazines, but we didn't even read magazines! They are like books for people too lazy to read more than a few pages at a time).

Though the pre-ordering was annoying - because people don't want to pre-order cookies. They want to impulse buy. I could have sold twice as many if I had been allowed just to get boxes and stand on a street corner. Some units did that. But ours was stuffy and terribly run, and we weren't allowed to do anything but a pre-order, and I never sold more than 40 boxes.