# One more time: Marney's Thanksgiving Letter **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106 "2012-11-15T17:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/1 "2012-11-15T17:58:20Z")
In case you haven’t seen it, or if you want to see it again, here is the notorious “Marney’s” Thanksgiving Letter/Specific Orders to the Family Regarding What to Bring and How to Cook and Serve It: > **[Marney's Thanksgiving Letter](https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/11/26/awkward-family-story-the-thanksgiving-letter/)** > >  (submitted by Kara) (All names have been changed, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/2 "2012-11-15T18:14:28Z")
What a passive-aggressive fictional bitch. The way it plays out in my head, Amy dumps the gravy boat in her crotch. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/3 "2012-11-15T18:39:35Z")
Wow… that’s fiction, right?? Please? Tell me that person does not actually exist?! ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/4 "2012-11-15T18:41:00Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > In case you haven’t seen it, or if you want to see it again, here is the notorious “Marney’s” Thanksgiving Letter/Specific Orders to the Family Regarding What to Bring and How to Cook and Serve It: > > [The Thanksgiving Letter](http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/11/26/awkward-family-story-the-thanksgiving-letter/) > > (All names have been changed, of course.) What’s the origin of this?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/5 "2012-11-15T18:45:55Z")
Knock knock Who’s there? Control freak. Now you say, “control freak who?” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/6 "2012-11-15T18:47:30Z")
[FOAF territory.](http://www.californiakara.com/2008/11/happy-thanksgiving-ocd-style.html) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/7 "2012-11-15T19:43:36Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Knock knock > > Who’s there? > > Control freak. Now you say, “control freak who?” I am so stealing this. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/8 "2012-11-15T20:24:43Z")
“regulation size casserole dish”??? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/9 "2012-11-15T20:25:52Z")
I’m surprised that snopes doesn’t have anything about this. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/10 "2012-11-16T05:13:14Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > What’s the origin of this?! :eek: somebody posted it on Awkward Family Photos a few years ago and they post it again every Thanksgiving. I’m sure the originator is somewhere in the archives on that site. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/11 "2012-11-16T05:15:41Z")
There is a link to the original blog at the bottom of this page: [http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-from-afp/](http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-from-afp/) And here is the letter reprinted on a dish: [http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2011/11/18/limited-edition-marney-dish/](http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2011/11/18/limited-edition-marney-dish/) ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/12 "2012-11-17T01:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=Inner Stickler] FOAF territory. [/QUOTE] No kidding! But I suspect the blogger who posted her “friend’s” story either wrote it herself, or rewrote a letter she herself received, and exaggerated much of it for comedic effect. None of the following is definitive, because, if names can be changed so can dates and product names. However, for what it’s worth, before 2008\* (the earliest date of posting found for this item) the 28th of November fell on Thursday in 2002, 1996, 1991, 1985, 1974 and 1968. I’m not including earlier years because “bottled water” and the following items are mentioned: 1. Hagan Dazs [sic]: Häagen Dazs was founded in 1960. The “Peppermint Bark” flavor appears to have been introduced to the market in 2008 ([http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190555488.html](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190555488.html)) but I can’t be arsed to confirm that. 2. EVOO: Rachel Ray is credited with developing this term. Since she was born in 1968, the term cannot have been around longer than she has. 3. Coors Light: introduced into the market in 1978. 4. The first edition of _The Silver Palate Cookbook_, by Sheila Lunkins, was published in 1982. Link to its recipe for pumpkin pie: [http://www.yale.edu/icenter/images/recipe.pdf](http://www.yale.edu/icenter/images/recipe.pdf). \*The 28th did not or will not fall on Thursday in the years 2003 through 2013. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/13 "2012-11-17T04:57:07Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > No kidding! But I suspect the blogger who posted her “friend’s” story either wrote it herself, or rewrote a letter she herself received, and exaggerated much of it for comedic effect. > > None of the following is definitive, because, if names can be changed so can dates and product names. However, for what it’s worth, before 2008\* (the earliest date of posting found for this item) the 28th of November fell on Thursday in 2002, 1996, 1991, 1985, 1974 and 1968. I’m not including earlier years because “bottled water” and the following items are mentioned: > > 1. Hagan Dazs [sic]: Häagen Dazs was founded in 1960. The “Peppermint Bark” flavor appears to have been introduced to the market in 2008 ([http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190555488.html](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190555488.html)) but I can’t be arsed to confirm that. > 2. EVOO: Rachel Ray is credited with developing this term. Since she was born in 1968, the term cannot have been around longer than she has. > 3. Coors Light: introduced into the market in 1978. > 4. The first edition of _The Silver Palate Cookbook_, by Sheila Lunkins, was published in 1982. Link to its recipe for pumpkin pie: [http://www.yale.edu/icenter/images/recipe.pdf](http://www.yale.edu/icenter/images/recipe.pdf). > > \*The 28th did not or will not fall on Thursday in the years 2003 through 2013. Not a problem. It’s still fun to make fun of “Marney” and her ilk once a year. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/14 "2012-11-18T01:57:38Z")
Marney may be fictional, but believe you me, there are plenty of real-life people just like her. ---
**Author:** ![ericworthington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@ericworthington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ericworthington)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/15 "2012-11-21T04:58:52Z")
Nothing says that they were at a Thanksgiving dinner that was held on the 28th as a Thanksgiving Day. It’s entirely possible they met on the 28th to have Thanksgiving dinner, but it wasn’t on a Thursday, if they were able to meet on the weekend instead. ALSO…nothing says they had to see each other on Thanksgiving Day. Most of my family all comes in on Wednesday, not Thursday. So “see you on the 28th” could refer to the Wedneday prior. Bazinga!! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/16 "2012-11-21T05:06:12Z")
The first time I read this I thought the name was Marley. Musta been a dyslexic moment. Our Marley would never be that way on Thanksgiving. He would just ban all of us. For about 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-more-time-marneys-thanksgiving-letter/641106/17 "2012-11-21T21:40:38Z")
[QUOTE=ericworthington] Nothing says that they were at a Thanksgiving dinner that was held on the 28th as a Thanksgiving Day. {snip} [/QUOTE] “Bazinga!” my Great-aunt Fanny! I already said the person who first posted this story could have changed/added any number of details of the story. I was just pointing out how unlikely was the story _as told_. I truly do not want to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the story. I am sure people like “Marney” exist and they have issued ultimata/demands like the ones in this story. My point was that this specific story is probably just that: a story, a “FOAF” tale, and not accurate reportage of a specific event. May your Thanksgiving be what you want it to be, and completely Marney-free!