Should this popular MAC slogan read, “Think Differently” or “Think ‘Different’”?
Neither. “Think Different” is perfectly grammatical.
Would you complain if someone said “Think Big” or “Think Pink”? They’re all the same grammatically.
urban legend warning!!
Steve Jobs apparently has a reputation at Apple for parking whereever he likes – diagonally across two stalls, in handicap slots, etc… Shortly after the Think Different campaign was introduced, someone spray-painted across his windshield Park Different.
OK, I’ll throw in my two cents (and if I screw this up, I’ll go back to lurking):
I would complain if someone said “Think big” or “Think pink”.
“Different”, “big” and “pink” are all adjectives; that is, they are words used to describe nouns and pronouns. The word “think” is a verb and requires an adjective to modify it (adjectives can often be spotted in the wild by their distinctive “ly” endings and colorful plumage).
b.
Damn! That should have said “requires an ADVERB to modify it (ADVERBS can”
Sorry.
b.
… get your adverbs here.
Didn’t you people watch Saturday morning TV? I still remember all this stuff with those songs running through my head.
My particular peeve is when people say something like “He ran good” and I’ll say, not quite under my breath “well”. While I think I’m correct, I’m not sure it makes me many friends.
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary lists different as an adverb in use since the middle 18[sup]th[/sup] century, but says it is chiefly jocular or dialectal.
I think it’s perfectly grammatical. It means “Think about the concept of ‘different’” as opposed to Think Differently, which is, well, different.
Well, my Websters lists “differently” as the adverb. But I would agree that in the argot, “think different” is acceptable. In general though, you would need an adverb to modify the verb. But we don’t always follow these rules with catch phrases.
When Someon esays, Who’s there? " I reply “It’s me.” Perfectly incorrect, but perfectly acceptable.
But “he run’s good” just grates me.
Anyone want to join my crusade to stop the misuse of “to beg the question”?
Think Different is right, but not in the way we would like it to be. Differently would be the adverb, so it it is the more natural choice. Think Different = Think [something] Different. Just a little ellipsis, to see if you are paying attention.
MR
What misuse of “to beg the question”?
Many people use the phrase “begs the question” to mean that something naturally leads to a specific question, instead of the traditional meaning of the phrase, which you should be able to find in a dictionary.
From http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/117.html#begging--the--question :
Thanks Curt.
The misuse goes like this:
IT does not “beg the question”. IT may make one “beg to ask the question”, but "begs the question has a very specific meaning.
Every time I hear someone mi-use this, I automatically think that they are ill educated.
It’s a slogan. It doesn’t have to be perfectly grammatical. It just has to be memorable and distinctive, which it is.
Sorry, for the late pop in… been out of town.
I heard an Apple spokesman say once, that the slogan is meant to be a play on words. The awkwardness is intentional. It’s supposed to make you ask, “Hey, shouldn’t that be ‘differently’?” Then you’re supposed to slap your head and go “Oooohhh - I get it. ‘Think Different’ as in the Macintosh is different.” Of course, Apple wants you to draw the conclusion that the Macintosh will make you think differently, too (as in out-of-the-box).
A good recent example I used. Local planning authorities keep wanting to rip down half of the downtown here, and build a huge underground parking garage to accomodate the crushing demand for parking, a demand that largely exists in there imagination. When criticized, they ask “But where are people going to park?” My response is that they are begging the question of how are people coming into downtown anyway… are they all driving, or are they walking, cycling, or using the transit system that runs right over the proposed parking lot? Their question “Where are people going to park?” Begs the question “How do people come downtown?” Begging the question is presupposing the answer to a preliminary question, NOT leading naturally to a follow-up question.