Date:    Sat, 28 Mar 1998 11:31:07 -0600
<br>From:    Greg Pulliam  gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CHARLIE.IIT.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Think Different
<br>
<br> Barry initiated:
<br> 
<br>   There's a very large Apple "Think Different" billboard near my home
<br>   at t$ corner of Third Avenue and 59th Street.
<br>   Actually, shouldn't that be "Think Differently"?
<br>   And does Apple really want people who "Think Different"?  If I send
<br>   out a resume written with crayons, do I have the job??
<br> 
<br> Then Greg Pulliam suggested:
<br> 
<br>   I've never thought of the "different" as an adverb modifying
<br>   "think."  This is a construction where "different" represents the goal (not
<br>   in the linguistic sense, mind you).
<br> [snip]
<br>   I think it's a great slogan, though--simple, elegant, and subversive.
<br>
<br>Bethany commented:
<br>
<br> It still shocks me to flip over an issue of the NYorker and see that Apple
<br> ad "Think Different." Greg., if all those freshmen comp. students we
<br> have been discussing write "One should think different" in an essay, will
<br> we all extoll the simplicity, the elegance, and the subversion?
<br>
<br>So, Bethany, you're saying that an ad campaign has the power to cause our
<br>students to write this way in their papers?  Perhaps we should all quit
<br>teaching freshman comp, and start putting up billboards instead.
<br>
<br>But seriously, Apple did not say "One should think different."  Apple said
<br>"Think Different."  As in a comedy writer's admonition to her co-worker to
<br>"Think Funny."  This sort of construction has been around for many, many
<br>years, and I doubt that it can be blamed for the widespread loss of
<br>abverbial inflection that is occurring in English.
<br>
<br> I would not ban the phrase, but I would not be able to repress a shudder.
<br> I really hate the ad campaign; I think it is a PR disaster at a time when
<br> my beloved Apple can ill afford a PR disaster.
<br>
<br>Well, the "PR disaster" has seen the value of Apple's stock rise almost 50%
<br>over the last several months.  Here's hoping for a long string of such
<br>disasters!
<br>
<br>Long live Apple.
<br>
<br>
<br>Greg
<br>