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December 13: Mailing Shopping Thanking. It Must Be Christmas

2007-12-13 · letter vlog · Hank, a guest · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal update · tags: community lore

Hank films a day of errands with Katherine (post office, a $15 Christmas tree from a Missoula lot), then reports that Merriam-Webster answered the Nerdfighter letters and that Vlogbrothers has cracked YouTube's all-time most-subscribed directors list, and thanks viewers.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting and date fix; errands with Katherine: post office, electronic teller, package to John addressed by Katherine; arriving at a Christmas tree lot

  • ★ Hank and Katherine take the car out for errands, starting at a very busy post office, where they use the faster electronic teller. — 00:00:09 · Katherine Green
  • ★ Hank notes that Katherine wrote everything on the package going to John, so there was no textual communication. (playful) — 00:00:09 · Katherine Green, No textual communication
  • ★★ Hank and Katherine buy a Christmas tree, which Hank calls mostly a decoration for their party and a place for their ornaments; few trees are left on the lot. — 00:00:09 · Katherine Green, Christmas

00:00:52 — Buying a $15 Christmas tree: few trees left, the seller's view of Montanans, putting up the tree, Katherine does all the work

  • ★ With about 11 days to Christmas the trees are on sale, and they get one for about $15, which Hank is happy to pay. — 00:00:52 · Christmas
  • ★★ Hank says the tree seller is an actual Montanan, a group he says is now pretty much outnumbered in Missoula, so it is good to see them. (playful) — 00:01:38 · Montana, Missoula, Montana
  • ★★ a guest: The tree seller says he doesn't think people are as hardy as they used to be: regular Montanans once went up in the hills, snow or no snow, but a lot of folks no longer do. (hedged) — 00:01:38 · Montana

00:02:07 — Apology to Katherine; wives' reprieve on 'Jafanuary' 1st; twelve-days-of-Christmas mix-up

  • ★★ Apologizing that Katherine does all the work because he has to film videos, Hank says the brothers' wives also get a reprieve on January 1st (he stumbles: 'Jafanuary'). (playful) — 00:02:07 · Katherine Green, Sarah Urist Green

00:02:34 — Secret Project response; Merriam-Webster's reply about 'Nerdfighter' read from a blank page; John's phone message begins

  • ★★ Hank says the response to the Secret Project is going extremely well. — 00:02:34
  • ★★★ Hank reads a Merriam-Webster reply forwarded by a Nerdfighter: many letters came in about 'Nerdfighter'; the word-of-the-year poll is closed, but they hope Nerdfighter and Nerdfighting go in their open dictionary. — 00:02:34 · nerdfighter
  • ★★ Hank marvels that they got a letter from Merriam-Webster: the dictionary people are taking notice of the Nerdfighters. (playful) — 00:03:04

00:03:33 — Vlogbrothers cracks the most-subscribed all-time directors list; thanks to viewers; sign-off

  • ★★★ John: In a phone message, John tells Hank that Vlogbrothers has finally cracked YouTube's all-time most-subscribed directors list. — 00:03:33 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank says he doesn't know why the ranking matters to them, but it really does, and thanks everyone who makes Brotherhood 2.0 something they surprisingly love to do. (hedged) — 00:03:33 · Brotherhood 2.0

Humor (significant)

  • As the seller saws off the end of the $15 tree, Hank thanks it for its sacrifice. — 00:00:52

    “Thanks for dying for us, Mr. Tree. We appreciate it. Your life is worth $15! That's a pretty good deal.”

  • Watching the footage, Hank notices a disturbing trend: at every step Katherine is the one doing the work. — 00:02:07

    “I'm sorry, baby. But I gotta film more videos!”

  • After saying 'Jafanuary' and muddling which day of Christmas has drummers, Hank blames his brain. — 00:02:07

    “Speaking of broken electrical signals in my brain, 11 pipers piping.”

  • Hank holds up a sheet of paper to read Merriam-Webster's email. — 00:02:34

    “Okay, there's not actually anything on this piece of paper. My printer doesn't work.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Merriam-Webster · nerdfighter

Also: People: Katherine Green · Kory Stamper

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0

Works: The Twelve Days of Christmas

Rituals: No textual communication

Places: Missoula, Montana · Montana

Events: Christmas

Products: Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary

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