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Apple blasted for US iPod grammar horror

September 19, 2008

An online promo for Apple's latest range of iPods has been attacked by grammar puritans - in the strongest possible terms.

Apple is pushing the new iPod touch as "The funnest iPod ever". Apple CEO Steve Jobs used the offending "funnest" word at the "Let's Rock" iPod product launch on September 9.

The Internet's grammar guardians went nuts! Grammar Girl - who looks like a nice, friendly person - weighed in with her own take on this apparently new word.

"It seems to me that more people were talking about whether ‘funnest' is a real word than were talking about iPods," she says.

After a thorough lexigraphical analysis Grammar Girl gives Apple the OK on "funnest", as "fun" is sometimes used as an adjective - although the Oxford English Dictionary disagrees.

(The American Merriam-Webster Dictionary is more forgiving.)

The crazies at Idiot Toys, on the other hand, are venting their fury at Jobs and Apple in true Tourette style - warning there are plenty of "C U Next Tuesday" references here.

Michael Quinion's wonderful World Wide Words site weighs in by noting its increasing use in the US ("here is language evolution in action") although he states that it is too casual for formal use.

Maybe we can forgive Steve Jobs, but we ask Apple UK if it really shouldn't look at its American marketing copy before unleashing it on us more sensitive Brits.

Posted by: Simon Jary

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Comments

Posted by Tut. Txt-spk in a blog? on September 19, 2008 :

Surely 'See you next Tuesday' would have been preferable - the kids are already struggling to learn proper English and it isn't as though the C and U needed spelling out, is it?

Posted by simonjary on September 19, 2008 :

May the pedantry begin!

Posted by what sort of kidult uses the adjective fun anyway on September 19, 2008 :

what is this, Mallett's mallet?

Posted by Dallas Willcox (Simply Words Editing Services) on September 19, 2008 :

With iPOD manufacturers having such influence over the young of today, what chance do those youngsters have of getting grammar right when they read such rubbish?

The standard of English is deteriorating year by year, and reputable companies need to play their part in reversing this trend, not reinforce it!

Posted by Thought on September 21, 2008 :

If we accept that 2-days cool input ruins a language therefore does cool invasion ruin our country?

2 rite

Posted by TheLandlord on September 22, 2008 :

The British can't spell (or, indeed, punctuate) properly anyway, so why the need to edit the copy before releasing it here? No-one cares about quality or correctness.

Posted by P Lambie on September 22, 2008 :

I can't see the problem - even in the editorial there are so many gaffs one cannot really recognise which one is the subject of such a tirade!

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