What do you mean, “what is it?” – Monday Rant

You know when someone in a book, or in a movie/tv show is given a gift? What’s the first thing they do? They act surprised, look at the gift-giver with child-like surprise and utter, “What is it?”

Oh, you mother—

YOU HAVE THE GIFT IN YOUR HANDS! YOU WERE GIVEN THE GIFT TO OPEN IT! WHY ARE YOU WASTING TIME?!

Seriously. Asking what it is defeats everything about the gifting process. The best part about a present is the surprise when you finally open it. Why ask the giver to ruin the surprise? And why would anyone wrap a gift if they were willing to reveal the contents after a simple question?

I don’t know if this is an example of lazy writing, a horrible attempt to fill time, or something else completely. It’s bad, though. You don’t see it go down like that in real life. In the real world, someone is handed a gift, they say thank-you (sometimes) and tear into it.

The only question that might be thrown around is: Did you keep the receipt?

Fun fact about this post: I couldn’t think of an example of this, but I know I’ve seen it A LOT!