It’s February, the shortest month of the year, a month since the onset of our New Year’s resolutions. It’s also host to Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day. As always, there’s something looming over it all, and it’s not snow. All you need to do is walk into any store and you’ll feel it. Even a stroll through the Internet will bring it to light.
I recently started following Maria Shriver on Twitter. The first tweet I received was a link to her Facebook page, where she asked her fans: “We all have one, and we want to know – what’s your guilty pleasure?”
As of nine o’clock this morning, she had received 100 responses, almost a third of which mentioned chocolate. Dark chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream, Reese’s cups and several combinations involving milk or red wine or television. Two of my personal favorites—macaroni and cheese and Cheetos—also made the list.
Not surprisingly, most of Maria’s Facebook fans are women. I’d love to hear more men’s responses to the question of guilty pleasures—or maybe I wouldn’t. Something tells me chocolate might not be so prominent.
I have a theory about chocolate as a guilty pleasure and it might be totally off base: I doubt women get any more pleasure from chocolate than men; but I do suspect they feel more guilt.
I too would be among the first to cite chocolate as a guilty pleasure, but that’s because it’s one of a long list of foods I love that make me ill. My New Year’s resolution is to stay well in 2011. This is not to say the red and green M&Ms didn’t gradually disappear from the candy dish over the course of January. Hey, something’s gotta give. Still, the lighter the candy dish, the heavier my conscience.
Now those heart-shaped boxes of temptation are everywhere (as are the chocolate Easter eggs). I’d say to the women and men out there, unless you have a medical condition that is triggered by chocolate, go ahead and indulge sans guilt. Have my share!
And while we’re on the subject, I’ll join Maria in asking, what’s your guilty pleasure? C’mon, guys, chime in.
Word Nymph 
My pleasure (no guilt) includes hoppy beers (IPA’s, double bocks, etc.)
Eating in bed.
A tangential question, which has actually arisen every time I have proofread an organizational calendar: is ‘President’s Day’ correct (singular possessive), or should it be ‘Presidents’ Day’ (plural possessive) or even ‘Presidents Day’ (where ‘Presidents’ is a noun, not an adjective, as in ‘Groundhog Day,’ above?) This same question arises with the days devoted to mothers, fathers and veterans, although I have never worried about valentines, and New Year’s Day clearly refers to a single new year.
Sharon, you raise an interesting question. I looked it up briefly before posting and the first source that popped up listed it as President’s Day. I’ve since checked several other sources and gotten several different answers; various calendars also list it differently. I changed my text to read “Presidents Day,” as it is a holiday devoted to multiple presidents and, like mothers and fathers, does not need to be possessive. They are individuals honored, not the owners of the holiday, so need for possessive. Maybe New Year’s, St. Patrick’s and St. Swithin’s (or as some have it, Swithun’s) should remain possessive.
Apparently there is no period in St Swithun. Or St Swithin.
Everything sweet and everything salty.
Salt. Hands down.
The good news at age 65 is that it finally seems okay to embrace pleasure and kiss-off the whole guilty part.
Cadbury Mini Eggs. Gotta have ’em and can ONLY get them this time of year. Bring on the pounds, the guilt and the acne!!
No food for me – just “Ultimate Manilow” played at an embarrassing volume. Don’t tell Shawn….
Dianne..Keep this quiet; I am also a Manilow fan. Love the early stuff.
Jeeze, Marty… Not you too!
Well, perhaps I don’t suffer from nearly as much guilt as I should from it, but chocolate is probably at the top of my list too…you put it in front of me, in just about any form, and I can’t stop eating!