From (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Bulletin Board, July 15, 2003

Writes Poet X of PDX:

"A few weeks ago, I saw and heard a new commercial for maybe the second time only. Something in the back of my mind told me it was an especially odious earworm-in-waiting.

"The commercial is a jingle about 'ice-cream man, on my street.' I guess I've heard it more than twice because, as we were driving around the other day, a real ice-cream man went by, his vehicle jingling, and I did a decent rendition of the first two lines of the jingle.

"The ad's come on twice in the past five days as we've been watching TV, and my other half has successfully changed channels after the first line, without my telling him that a week ago I'd done the same thing when watching TV alone.

"I'm calling it Earworm Avoidance Ritual — E.A.R. for short. So far, so good, but I fear the inevitable.

"Since we're practicing E.A.R., I have no idea what it's a commercial for. I suppose it's too much to ask for for them to be selling ice-cream bars."