You’re referring to the placement of the word available, I take it. Yes, that would be very grating to me… But, fortunately, as most commercials are grating to me, I don’t watch much television and can’t recall being subjected to this particular one.
- PW
who nonetheless agrees with Tim for the mostpart
PS. I’m offline until Saturday (thanks, phone company losers!) so if I don’t post much it’s not because I’ve taken umbrage, or any other dangerous substances. :D
[quote author=Tim Ward link=board=grammar;num=1069870051;start=0#4 date=11/28/03 at 17:09:22]PW—on the other hand, some of the best things on TV are the commercials
And how sad is THAT?
Unfortunately, there isn’t much solid research to prove that a "good" commercial sells more widgets than a mediocre one, but don’t spread it around.
- PW
whose idiot phone company finally found a loose wire miles from our house and restored connectivity after a mere three days
OK, it’s totally off topic, but I just have to weigh in on my favorite commercial for a beer. It had to be completely unsuccessful, since it did not cause us to remember WHICH beer, but it was a wonderful pun.
The pun was "twist to open." It was just a guy in an undershirt dancing badly in front of a table with one bottle of beer on it. Then you see the cap of the bottle. Very funny.
[quote author=rosewoman link=board=grammar;num=1069870051;start=0#7 date=12/01/03 at 18:48:07]OK, it’s totally off topic, but I just have to weigh in on my favorite commercial for a beer. It had to be completely unsuccessful, since it did not cause us to remember WHICH beer, but it was a wonderful pun.
The pun was "twist to open."
I remember that spot. It was very entertaining. Unfortunately, since neither you nor I can recall the brand of beer, it was a crappy ad. It’s a problem that recurs time and again in my business: to be entertaining or to be brand memorable. Some spots manage both, happily.
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=grammar;num=1069870051;start=0#10 date=12/02/03 at 09:54:34]
And when they don’t it’s so moot. but since I have no stake in it also funny, but then it IS the consumer who pays for the Advertizing…...
Golly. And here’s me, all these years, thinking it was somebody’s rich uncle…
Gee, I guess if I’m going to suggest a topic I should read what people have to say about it… Sorry.
I guess it’s not a successful commercial because 1) I can’t remember who’s trucks, and 2) I didn’t rush right out and buy one. It is reassuring to know that if and when I need a truck, at least one manufacturer makes wheels available as (I presume) an option.
I find it very grating! How could a native speaker of English come up with that word order?
I very much doubt that a Native Speaker would come up with such an irritating word order. I don’t know the product, but I suspect it to be a Chinese tire, marketed by a Belgian marketing agency, who hired a Finnish ad agency to do the creative, who hired a Lithuanian translator for the copy. The director of the TV spot was probably Polish, and the script guy Mongolian.
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=grammar;num=1069870051;start=15#15 date=12/02/03 at 23:31:06]I can’t stand this anymore I have to say it, I think the available wheels is some ad-speak for a wonderful feature they are offering…
Katy, I think you’ve got it. ‘Available Wheels’ is a unit, in this context, so of course ‘twenty-inch’ would modify the unit.
Witness this spec sheet for the Chevy Kodiak C4500 utility truck. You gotcher ‘Available Engines’, ‘Available Transmissions’, ‘Available Frames’, etc., right on down to ‘Available Wheels’.
