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Practically Family
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“Serving you better by giving you less.” seems to be the trend.
Or the manufacturer has "camouflaged" the change somehow. Bar soap, for example. "Oh, we've re-shaped it to make it more ergonomic and easier to hold when it's wet." Rubbish. They've found a way to sell 25% less soap per bar while increasing the price. It's not "ergonomic", it's "economic". For them, that is, not the consumer.^^^^^
Over this way we’ve witnessed many a supermarket product made incrementally smaller but priced about the same as the larger product it supplanted. The size difference is often small enough as to go unnoticed by many...
“Serving you better by giving you less.” seems to be the trend.
I stopped by an Apple Store in a hoity-toity mall yesterday, looking to buy an Apple Watch. The young fellow who checked me in said a sales person would see me in five or 10 minutes. After 20 minutes I told him I couldn’t wait any longer and split.I’m guessing that’ll stop about the time the novelty of it wears off.
It’s been suggested that I get an
Apple Watch, as another measure toward continuing my earthly existence. Its heart monitoring features are impressive indeed. I’ve noted that many front-line healthcare providers (lovely people, to a person, but I’d still prefer seeing less of them) are wearing the things. I just wish I more liked the way they look. In that regard, I prefer my 1950s(?)-vintage Mido. But I’m not one to die for fashion.
Yeah, it annoys me, too. But I long ago accepted that the term is so often paired with “rather” or “somewhat” that those of us who still subscribe to the old meaning are in the minority. Popular usage trumps, alas,This one really raises my ire, and just irks the living ———— out of me.
Uniqueness is an absolute attribute, so something is either unique or it is not.
A thing cannot be “rather unique”, “very unique” or more or less unique than another thing.
"Sales lingo". It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to get the potential customers' attention and make them curious enough to want to try the product.This one really raises my ire, and just irks the living ———— out of me.
Uniqueness is an absolute attribute, so something is either unique or it is not.
A thing cannot be “rather unique”, “very unique” or more or less unique than another thing.
In our neighborhood, signs spring up every Saturday and Sunday pointing to the “New Hope Church”.
whatever happened to the “Old Hope Church”?, I can’t help but wonder. It’s been 2,000 years, after all.
A similar mis-usage is the annoying "one of the only" phrase that news-media types say or write far too often. one = only : (!!)This one really raises my ire, and just irks the living ———— out of me.
Uniqueness is an absolute attribute, so something is either unique or it is not.
A thing cannot be “rather unique”, “very unique” or more or less unique than another thing.
Aside from the word mis-usage that you describe, the one word that usually applies to any product labeled "new and improved" is "worse"."Sales lingo". It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to get the potential customers' attention and make them curious enough to want to try the product.
The one that has always annoyed me is "new and improved!". If it's "new" it didn't previously exist, so there was nothing to improve upon. And if it is truly improved in some way, it previously existed and therefore cannot be "new". People buy into this manipulation all the time without even thinking about it.
Ooohh! How about "Advanced ..." I frequently see companies with "Advanced" in their names or offering products with the same adjective. I wonder what became of the "Retarded ..." companies and products.