“When is a ream of paper not a ream of paper?” reader J. asked us in the subject line of his e-mail to the Consumerist tipline. We were hoping that this was the setup to a totally great joke, but it wasn’t. Instead, he sent us a dismaying photo that shows Target is trying to undo centuries of history and redefine what a “ream” of paper is.
We are not being hyperbolic here. The term “ream” predates your neighborhood big-box office supply store, predates the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company, and even predates that typing pool your grandma was in in the ’50s. “Ream” has meant five hundred sheets of paper since the 16th century.
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