The country's most popular valentine

Did you buy a Hallmark card for Valentine's Day this year? Chances are you got the same one most of your friends — and most urban Americans — did. Hallmark was surprised to find that its card V330-5 was the top-selling valentine in virtually every U.S. city, proving either that Americans are terribly un-original, that the card was exceptionally well-designed or that it was the least sucky of this year's options. (Based on recent trips to the card shop, Houstonist is betting on the third option.)

The front of the card is red foil with "For the One I Love" across the top in black script, a picture of a red rose in the center and a thick black ribbon through the middle. Black ribbon and a red rose? The description sounds more like something you'd find in The Phantom of the Opera (or perhaps a brothel) than in the aisle at Walgreens. Inside, the card reads: "Each time I see you, hold you, think of you, here's what I do ... I fall deeply, madly, happily in love with you." Marcia Muelengracht, the card's designer, explained its popularity:

"I cut to the chase — what I would want to give and what I would want to receive," Muelengracht said. "A guy wants to say he still loves her. A gal wants to know he still does. She wants to get goose bumps. He wants to think he'll get lucky."

We just added Muelengracht to our card list for National Stereotypes Day. According to the AP, 62 percent of Americans will buy valentines this year — about a $550 million proposition, if all those people buy one card each. With that much money at stake, card companies spend a lot of time researching sales figures to make sure every card they produce makes everyone in the United States happy. So why is it that we can never find the right card when we go to look for one? (If you want to read experts' takes on the success of V330-5, check out Hallmark's press release — we had no idea there were professors who specialize in the "greeting card as a cultural communication vehicle!")