i said crossly to cindy on icq: tamade, zhe ge pricetag dao di shi yong shen me zuo de, zhe me yong penknife dou ge bu duan! (swearword. what is this price tag made of, i can't even slice it off with a penknife?) and she clucked sympathetically, "maybe you need a chopper." but i soon discovered why the pricetag was indestructible. a week ago i had broken my penknife while trying to cut the stems of some sunflowers. there was a mere centimetre of blade left, and the knife had broken, not along the usual line of weakness, but against it. so when i picked up the knife to slice off the price tag, naturally i was using the wrong side of the blade.

you may all laugh at me now.