the breakdown of favorite mint gum flavors / contributed photo
With school still online, many things have changed since this time last year. Some things, however, cannot. One such thing is the need for concentration, and for this I put my trust in gum, peppermint to be specific. I was coming back to class after lunch, munching on some gum, and had a realization. I had not had any kind of gum other than peppermint for over a year. I comforted myself with a fresh stick. But that thought kept bouncing around my head like a screensaver. Half an hour after school, I had had enough. Running to the cupboard, I grabbed a stick of spearmint gum, and popped it in. Immediately, I was reminded why I do not chew spearmint. But I knew a friend who swore by it, so I concluded there must be more people with my opinion, and more with my friend’s. Reaching out to the student populous, I compiled a chart of the most popular mint gum. Not satisfied with just raw statistics, I also asked for the reasoning behind the choice. It was that day I learned some people have very strong opinions about gum flavors.
With over 30 responses, Spearmint won by a single vote, with Peppermint coming in a close second. Wintermint came in third and the other responses received one vote each. The reasoning behind selections included: (for Peppermint) “Peppermint is by far superior, it is the name of a candy — need I say more?”, (for Mint Bliss) “Because it’s the best”, (for Wintermint) “It’s fresh, cool and minty just how it should be.”, (for Gum Flavor) “Gum is gum. Twix is Twix. Nuclear Launch Codes are Nuclear Launch Codes.” and, my personal favorite: (for Spearmint) “Listen, spearmint is superior. That’s all I have to say. It’s sweet, perfect, and minty. The perfect combination. Wintermint can suck a toe.”