Thanks to Kim (whoops! And Heather!) for reminding me how much I love the daily deal at Woot! I went over there to have a gander, and today’s “deal” on a two-pack of binoculars has me rolling:
They say you get what you pay for, but it’s been our experience that you usually get less. Take these Vivitar binoculars for example. They’re not great. They’re not even particularly good. You might even say they’re—well, “junk†is a strong word, but you might use it. You’ve always been more direct than we are. At this price, though, they’ve got to be a good deal, right? Who ever heard of a pair of binoculars that wasn’t worth at least five bucks?
We have; you’re looking at them. But we’re firm believers in the one-man’s-trash principle, so we’re sharing these crummy—er, “entry-level†binoculars in Two-for-Tuesday bundles. That’s a pair of pairs of binoculars (four oculars?) for a price so low, they’ve just gotta be rubbish.
Um. Wow.
On the “pair of pairs” and the “ocular” reference, I must let you know that there is such an animal as a monocular. It’s just what it sounds like — a lense (like half of a binocular) to use with one eye. Vision impaired people sometimes use them to get information (like house numbers) that they can’t get with their limited eyesight.
Surprise — you learned something AND got a deal today!
Daisy,
Thanks for bringing back a great childhood memory! My dad once had an old pair of binoculars on the boat that wouldn’t line up anymore, so he took them apart and added a little strap to each half. My brother and I had a blast with our monoculars.