What ever happened to...

"I know, isn't she diabolical?"

The word summons to mind scenes from the worlds of comic books and early James Bond movies. Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman...these virtuous beings routinely faced excessively creative villains bent on their destruction, sometimes to the detriment of the pursuit of world domination. These villains must have devoted many hours to brilliant and productive brooding, dreaming up insanely ingenious plots in order to destroy their adversaries through elaborate scenarios involving acid baths, slowly melting ice, laser beams, hypnotism, sharks in unexpected places. No contraption too complex, no price tag too high. But who has the time to be diabolical today?

Nowadays, we have plenty of examples of bad behavior, and some of them also involve delightful words. "Rapacious" comes to mind, as in Bank of America or Hedge Fund Manager. But in today's fast paced environment, efficiency has put diabolical out of business, making the pursuit of world domination so much less picturesque.

Maybe "diabolical" has a quaint and melodramatic ring to it because at its root is the devil (related words: devilish, demonic, satanic, infernal, fiendish, unholy) and no one really believes in the devil any more. Or, if they do, they are only too willing to make a friendly deal at the next crossroads...or better yet, via email on their Blackberry.

Gained in translation...

Sometimes delightful words are inadvertent, as in the following instructions – translated into English from Japanese – accurately transcribed from the box containing a "squishy stress head" (Zoe's phrase for her new acquisition). My favorite part: "avoid such places where receives direct rays or becomes high temperature." The phrase so perfectly suggests the resulting explosion.


CAU MARU
For the people who have such troubles recently that forgetting a smile, feeling stree, and tending to pass by someone. You must be unconscious of the passage of time if once you got this feeling which is the one you cannot spare. For a small present.Let's attach to write your feeling, which you cannot say directly, in a massage...It is safe if throw it in a quarrel by husband and wife because it is very soft. (but, we cannot recommended to do so.) There are four types of faces, so please choose a favorite one.

Precautions for use

• Although the quality of the material and the white powder on the surface are harmless, please do not eat CAU MARU.
• When dirt is conspicuous or sticky, please sprinkle a baby powder lightly after washing it with water and draining.
• Please do not leave it on printed matter etc because the ink and paint may adhere.
• Please avoid such places where receives direct rays or becomes high temperature.
• When a small child uses it, a guardian must attend on.

Since these faces are made by craftsmen's hands one by one, someone may have appeared such as a pimple, a boil, a rough skin, a pock mark, a spot and a freckle. And, although there are some air bubbles and each face has variations about the softness, it is no problem in the quality or character. Please do not pull projection parts, such as a nose and a lip too strongly. It may be torn to pieces. To reduce the stickiness of the material used to make this product, it has been sprinkled with starch powder. You may see white powder come from the product, but this is not a defect.