Little One-dollar Folded Paper Emotional Prostitutes

Bob e-mails to relate an incident which demonstrates the importance of context. It begins with his e-mail to customer service:

Dear Customer Relations at American Greetings,

This probably falls into the category of "here we are trying our best to do some good, and along comes some guy to nitpick..." I recently purchased one of your greeting cards to give to my wife. Here is some info from the back of the card that may assist you in identifying the product. The numbers on the back of the card are USA 259 3729323, and CANADA 339 ARM59915-DOW; the number under the barcode is 6152663037.

Anyway, I was looking for something romantic with a scripture verse on it, and I thought I had found the perfect card. On the front of the card is a picture of a couple walking along the beach with the following words inscribed on the front:

...let's enjoy ourselves with love!
Proverbs 7:18

I decided to look up the verse in my bible (I'm always interested in context!) and was surprised at what I found. I'll admit that I did get a good chuckle out of this exercise. The words in Proverbs 7:18 belong to those of a "loose woman" that speaks with "smooth words" and is "dressed as a harlot, wily of heart." She says to her target of seduction "for my husband is not at home." Below, I have pasted the entire Proverbs Chapter Seven for your perusal. You'll see that the words are that of an unscrupulous woman attempting to seduce a man and commit adultery. The verse appears to be King Solomon admonishing a protégé to resist temptation and remain chaste, and in turn avoid damnation.

Needless to say, after reporting the findings of my exegesis, my wife was no longer in the mood. My recommendation would be for you to scrap this product, and to pass this feedback on to the appropriate department. Thank you.

P.S. I took the Scripture below from the Revised Standard Version (RSV), as that is the only translation widely accepted by both protestants and Catholics.

And the response:

We are sorry to hear about the inconvenience you experienced with our greeting card. I will pass along your comments along with the product numbers for our design teams. In the meantime, could we get your mailing address? This would allow us to send out a manufacturer's coupon so you can get a replacement card to give to her.

Robert Consumer Relations American Greetings Corporation

No word if the new card struck the proper chord of sentimentality.