Date:    Sat, 28 Mar 1998 12:55:58 -0500
<br>From:    "Bethany K. Dumas"  dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTK.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Think Different/Read Clearly
<br>
<br>On Sat, 28 Mar 1998, Greg Pulliam asked:
<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?
<br>
<br>No, I have clearly not said that. I asked a hypothetical question about
<br>how we would view the construction if we met it in a comp class.
<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 am aware that the ad says "Think different" (I see it EVERYWHERE!). And
<br>I have never suggested that there is a correlation between Apple's slogan
<br>and any syntactic  change occuring in English
<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>Greg, I am a real skeptic about correlation and causality. I am aware that
<br>Apple's sales have incresaed, and I am delighted. But -- I am dubious that
<br>it is because of the use of the phrase "Think different."
<br>
<br>    Long live Apple.
<br>
<br>Indeed!
<br>
<br>Bethany, Apple/Mac user since 1986
<br>