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Article: Shopping: The thing about... Vacuum cleaners
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- September 14, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Thomas the Tank engine is a bit of a bore, but it is not
difficult to believe that a steam locomotive, the most
anthropomorphic of all machines, has a personality and might just
be able to talk to children when adults are not looking. But, Henry
the vacuum cleaner? There must be limits on our childish desire to
turn every machine into a human character. Let's face it, vacuum
cleaners are very useful, but not exactly a boy or girl's best
friend.
If anything, vacuum cleaners were more household demons than
pets. The first I can remember was streamlined in a Raymond Loewy
kind of way, made a more hellish noise than the souls of the
damned, and set the cats spitting, whilst the dogs saw it as a ...