The Tale of Parvs

This post shall be in a different vein than my usual content due to my lack of mental energy at the moment. (Learning Spanish is hard, and socializing is hard. Therefore, learning Spanish by socializing is a great recipe for well-deserved exhaustion.)

It's a story about an ice cream shop here in Asunción. And it's a story about ambiguous marketing designs and the funny situations that can arise from them. 

Here is the shop: 


(There's also me eating an ice cream cone. It was delicious, in case you were wondering.)

You see the name? What do you think it says? 

Parvs, right. I agree. Good eye. And cool design.

A while ago, our hosts saw that ice cream store and decided that they wanted to check it out at some point. Since they didn't have time that day, they drove on past, intending to return later. 

Eventually it was time to get some ice cream. So they pulled up Google Maps and started looking for Parvs. 

For some reason, they couldn't find it. 

Parvs just wasn't there. Or, at least, it wasn't in Asunción—you can search for Parvs in Google Maps right now, and all you're going to come up with is a book publisher in Finland. 

And they were pretty sure they weren't looking for a book publisher in Finland. 

The problem was, they knew what they'd seen. There was a Parvs in Asunción, no matter what Google Maps was telling them, and they were going to go to it and get ice cream. But they couldn't figure out how to get there, and Google Maps wasn't helping. 

And then came the moment of revelation:

"Where is Parvs? Why isn't this working? All I see is Paris, and it's definitely not that—"

Oh wait. 

Hm. 

I mean, I guess that ice cream cone could be an i... 

Sure enough, it's Paris. Not Parvs at all, despite every appearance to the contrary. 

So they went and got their ice cream, and they liked it. We've visited there twice, now, and enjoyed the food quite a bit. 

To us, it'll always be Parvs. Never mind that we know its real name now—we shall forever remember it by the misnomer that the sign gave it, and remember it fondly. 

The lesson: 

  • design is hard,
  • don't blame Google Maps if it isn't Google Maps's fault,
  • and ice cream cones definitely look like V's.
This has been the tale of Parvs. Thank you for reading, and I'll be back Monday with an article that will (hopefully) be about something more important.

Comments

  1. Rose Q. AddamsJuly 23, 2022 at 1:14 PM

    XD
    I love it!! I was utterly convinced it was a "v"... so was my mom...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Emma ThrasherJuly 23, 2022 at 1:49 PM

      I know, right? Surely we aren't the only ones who have run into this problem.

      Delete

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