I’m all for a little patriotism and a little capitalism, but a little vocabulary development comes in handy, too.
Show your what?
Well, they do want you to buy stuff.
Yea but the word they were looking for, I believe, was Patriotism. But what do you expect? They’re trying to make money off of a national disaster, how well educated do you think they are?
pa·tron·age
Pronunciation: 'pa-tr&-nij, 'pA-
Function: noun
4 : business or activity provided by patrons <the new branch library is expected to have a heavy patronage>
Makes sense. Just another way of saying “We want your business.”
Cute ‘Princess Bride’ quote, BTW.
No, it doesn’t make sense. McDonalds doesn’t say “Show us your business by buying some french fries.” They say “Satisfy your hunger with some french fries.” See what I mean? Look…
SHOW YOUR BUSINESS NOW
WITH UNITED WE STAND WEAR!
Vs.
SHOW YOUR PATRIOTISM NOW
WITH UNITED WE STAND WEAR!
What do you think they were trying to say?
As “Show your patronage”, it makes perfect sense, if tortured syntax. The other possibility, confusing the word ‘patriotism’ with ‘patronage’, is pretty far out.
“Show your patronage” just means “Buy our stuff.”
I’ll concede that MacDonalds is a more astute advertiser than these guys.
Scroll down the page and look for this:
“Now is the time America needs your support. Show your patriotism by wearing the color of freedom with United We Stand apparel.” [emphasis mine]
Yep, sounds like a Bush-ism to me.
It’s inconceivable that they would misuse a word like that in their adverts.
[sub]sorry, but you know that somebody was going to say it[/sub]
They screwed up, and the proofreader in me is cringing.
Esprix
Actually, if the proceeds are donated or something, then they could have meant “show your financial support”…
I still think it’s tacky, though.
The irony-factor is high. If the shirts themselves said “Show your Patronage”, I might even buy one. Well, if it had Bush’s likeness on it, and said “Show Your Patronage”. Very malappropriate.
I’m looking at it now, and it only says “patriotism”.
Anyway, I cringe at the phrase “show your [anything]”. Always reminds me of the Simpsons episode when 17-year-old Homer joined the debate team to impress Marge. “Would you like to show your rebuttal?”
Well that settles it. Someone caught the error and finally changed the wording.
Fun while it lasted.
I got junk e-mail yesterday telling me to show my patronage… So I went shopping…