Picture yourself in your kitchen, afraid to move, surrounded by a million tiny razer-sharp shards that are scattered all over the floor of the room. If the word "Corelle" comes to mind, you've probably been through it too.

Having depleated our last good set of dinnerware and dealt with my father's incredulous "how is it you two always manage to break all the nice things we own?" gaze, my clumsy mother and my oaf of a self decided to opt for what numerous friends had described as the ultra-durable kitchen set: cups, plates, and bowls made by the company Corelle, from a type of glass named Vitrelle, said to be extremely break-resistant. For the first while, this notion proved to be true - we had dropped many dinner pieces and they had simply hit the ground with a short thud, nothing more. However, today, I learned two things. The first was a valuable lesson about linguistics. there is a monumental difference between break-resistant, and break-proof. The second was that when a Corelle dish does break, it doesn't just break. It shatters. All over.