Category Archives: One-Foot Putts

One of these highly-exclamatory logos belongs to a now-tired brand from the late 1990s and early 2000s.  The other belongs to a multinational technology company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that delivers e-mail and spam.

With respect to the need for exclamation points to get people excited, Patrick Armitage of the web publication Marketing Land remains a skeptic: “In my experience, the exclamation point doesn’t actually say, ‘This is awesome!’  It’s a warning sign that says, ‘Caution: We’re overselling the crap out of this!'”

Indeed.  I might also cite F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose thoughts on the topic capture the essence of this decade’s Bush campaign:  “An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”

So far the joke has been on us, as we try to endure all the yahoos running for President.   What a piece of work is man!*

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* Hamlet, Act II, Scene II.

I’ve always been fascinated by the similarites and differences among languages.  Consider for example how this common expression is said in various tongues:

• English: The king is dead.
• Dutch: De koning is dood.
• Danish: Kongen er død.
• French: Le roi est mort.
• Italian: Il re è morto.
• Turkish: Kral öldü.
• Nyasa: Mfumu wafa.
• Maori: Kua mate te kingi.
• Hmong: Tus huab tais yog tuag.
• Nashville: Elvis has left the building.

One more nugget from Google Translate:

• 王 is the Chinese symbol for king.
• 猫王 is the Chinese symbol for Elvis — literally, cat king.  (It’s true.)

That’s it for this edition of Just Saying.  Thank you very much.

Hey, Pandora.  When I skipped past Our Love is Better Than Chocolate, how did you know whether I meant “I have heard that song plenty enough times” vs “I generally dislike Sarah McLachlan?”  I do not trust that your algorithm understands the basis of my binary choice.

After my skipping that song, you are likely to decide that I should never hear Sarah again, which will be the wrong outcome.*  If nothing else, in your capitalist effort to provide a First World Solution, you will only have created a First World Problem.  Congratulations.

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* On the other hand, I have un-liked The Wailin’ Jennys something like 7 or 8 times, but they keep popping up, so what gives?  Are you their cousin or something?