12: Sit'n Spin

The Sit'n Spin might evoke a nostalgic fondness in some gentle readers, to a simpler time, maybe even a happier time. Small wonder that this gnomish product appeared in the late 70s, when the hippies were growing up and trying to find a place for their gnomish-infected values to plague future generations.

Enter the Sit'n Spin, a do-it-yourself merry-go-round, basically. For one. Why bother having friends? Why bother running around in circles, when you can Sit'n Spin?! Around and around and around you go, look at you go, a dervish-in-waiting, a human whirligig, looking like an idiot! Meantime, the gnomes who surely invented it are counting their money and laughing at you, pleased at their hoodwinkery.It's a credit to my snarky generation (Generation X) that "Sit'n Spin" evolved into an insult involving the middle finger, which perhaps reflected a sly rejection of gnomish values, a co-opting of gnomish neo-whimsy for our own nefarious ends.

Fortunately, the Sit'n Spin was eclipsed by the time and shorter attention spans of children, but the gnomish spirit of the Sit'n Spin lives on. I like the age limit on the product -- 18M to 5.5 years -- perhaps the high point of susceptibility to gnomish aesthetics, or perhaps simply a weight limit factor (no doubt the ever-fatter younger generations put the Sit'n Spin out of business, since they couldn't craft a sturdy enough product to bear the kiddies, who were likely sitting enough, anyway.