Date:  Tue, 5 Aug 1997 13:56:07 EDT
From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>
Subject: HBO and TV

Re Barry's

"GARTH LIVE FROM CENTRAL PARK
>>Thursday, August 7, 8 PM ET/PT
>>HBO
>>IT'S NOT TV. IT'S HBO."
>
>HBO is not tv?? What is it, a frog?

A common enough ploy, especially in advertising. From my collection (to
illustrate what I like to call metalinguistic negation):

 It's not a car. It's a Volkswagen.  (commercial and advertisement, 1980's)

Or, more ominously,

 They weren't people, Sir. They were the enemy.
   (Lt. William Calley, during court-martial for his participation in
   My Lai massacre.)

--Larry