Good Policy, Sure

"Neatness" isn't a very good motto


Doesn't quite have the same ring as "Semper Fidelis" does it?


Nope...that's a pretty good one. The Boy Scouts go with "Be Prepared," while the United States likes "In God We Trust." "qo'mey poSmoH Hol" of course belongs to the Klingon Language Institute (It means "Language opens worlds"...don't bother looking it up), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police "Maintain The Right."


All of these are great and famous mottos...possible exception of the Klingon one...but what's your point?


My point is that mottos are catchy little phrases that embody what a group is all about. Mottos should be memorable and at least a little profound. As such, not everything can be called a Motto.

Every summer, I get solicitations from a few different "companies" who are offering their services to me for driveway top-coating. I really should do that, so I'm going to be taking one of them up on their offer, but it's a matter of deciding which one from the mountain of fliers, pamphlets, web pages, and radio spots. (The one for "Billy The Biker" is actually really funny, so that may be as good a decider as any. And no, I'm not making that up.) So one of them showed up wedged on my mailbox that contained very little information, a slew of grammatical errors, a phone number, a petition from God to call this company, and the company's motto. Well...sort of. It contained, buried in the flurry of half-information, the sentence "Neatness Is Our Motto". This is terrible. Not only is it not an especially catchy motto, but I can't figure out how it's even unique to this particular paving "company" which is really some guy who lives in his mother's basement. (I know this because I've met the guy when his mom dropped him off to deliver a flier last summer.) When I hear the motto "Neatness" I'm not going to think of this particular guy splattering tar on the ground. As much as I'm glad he's conscious of neatness when sealing driveways, I really think he needs a new motto...or to learn what the word motto means. One or the other...I'm not picky.