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Re: Did they really mean what it says?

Subject: Re: Did they really mean what it says?
From: dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 07:31:17 -0800


In my travels I found this gem of an advertising malapropism on the bottom of the Toshiba support web page. Great example of how not to say it.

"Protect your PC from Microsoft."

But that's not what it's saying at all. It is obvious:

- The text "Protect your PC" is an image. Its color is red. - The text "from Microsoft" is an image. Its color is black.

Image-schmimage. How the words are rendered has no bearing on the issue, which was that the person who wrote the words didn't bother to read them carefully enough. If they had, they'd have noticed that it could be interpreted more than one way.

That's what's funny about it.


Perhaps you are color-blind?

Maybe, but it doesn't matter. He just saw humor where you didn't. I agree with him--it's funny, and it is (as he suggests) a good example of the importance of an independent editorial review.

If they'd put quotes around the program name and perhaps changed one tiny word, the message would've been unambiguous:

"Protect Your PC"
by Microsoft

A decent editor or reviewer would've suggested those changes.

Get it?

--David


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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: RE The Friday funny: From: Jim Shaeffer
Did they really mean what it says?: From: Peter
Re: Did they really mean what it says?: From: Bonnie Granat

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