- It’s true. If you want to buy a spring suit, the choice selection occurs in February: a bathing suit, March: back to school clothes, July: a fur coat, August. Did I tell you about the week I gave in to a mad-Mitty desire to buy a bathing suit in August?
- The clerk, swathed in a long sleeved woolen dress which made her look for the world like Teddy Snowcrop, was aghast. “Surely, you are putting me on,” she said. “a bathing suit! In August!”
- “That’s right,” I said firmly, “and I’m not leaving this store until you show me one.”
- She shrugged helplessly. “But surely you are aware of the fact that we haven’t had a bathing suit in stock since the first of June. Our – no offense – White Elephant sale was June third, and we unload – rather, disposed of all our suits at that time.” -Erma Bombeck, At Wit’s End
1) What is the attitude of the writer toward the subject matter?
2) What diction and details create the tone of the passage?