An open letter to the owners of Frock Off in Exeter

Dear shop owner(s),

I have walked past your shop in South Street Exeter many times, sometimes on my way to work, sometimes walking to the nearby Wetherspoons, sometimes just having a stroll in the sun. I have to say not once has your pun of a name raised a smile, nor have I ever thought it was a good name for a clothes shop.

I don't know how much thought you gave the name, my guess is somewhere between 'one second' and 'not at all'.

On every single level the name does not work. The pun is clumsy, barely sounding like the intended word.

Why would you want the first thing people think about as they approach the shop that you already want them do go away, even before they have entered? "Frock Off, OK, I think I will!".

Also being a clothes shop wouldn't you want people to put clothes (and frocks) on? Perhaps at the end of a drunken night in the Walkabout pub the frocks will be awkwardly taken off by a man called Clive who works in the BT call centre, but otherwise a shop should be all about putting clothes ON not taking them OFF?

A better pun (that I just came up with) would have been 'Frock On', at least this rhymes with the phrase it is punning with, and describes more closely what happens in a clothes shop.

I beg that you consider changing your name. otherwise I fear you will be one of the many shops that have recently closed down in South Street and you will be promptly replaced by yet another charity shop.

Yours sincerely,

Neil Denham

exeblog