think different or think differently? [Archive]

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janey

Mar 6, 2003, 10:22 PM

what do you think? think different is better but my english teacher thinks otherwise :rolleyes: :) ;) :p :D

scem0

Mar 6, 2003, 10:43 PM

well, gramatically it should be the adverbial form of 'different'
making it 'think differently' but that just sounds wierd. ;)

RBMaraman

Mar 6, 2003, 10:47 PM

According to the chair of my Universities English department, "Think Different" is correct and "Think Differently" is incorrect (At least in this particular instance of usage). I wouldn't argue with a man who holds degress from Harvard, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins.

scem0

Mar 6, 2003, 10:54 PM

I would....... why? It must be some wierd technicality of the word
'different'. I see....... wait no....... I don't see. Dictionary.com
can't enlighten me. According to grammar 'Think Different' is
incorrect (I think ;)), but it is correct according to how people
speak modern English. Oh w/e. :o

Nipsy

Mar 6, 2003, 11:34 PM

Think differently is the correct usage in the traditional sense.

'I want you to think differently and establish a new paradigm.'

Think different is correct in a colloquial usage, but not in the adverbial sense.

'Think geek. Think big. Think different.'

Think differently implies that you should change your thought process. Think different implies that you should think about something different.

This is according to my ex-housemate, a Stanford PhD linguist, and his consultations with tomes written by some famous grammarian.

Yes, I am aware I just said 'famous grammarian'.

scem0

Mar 6, 2003, 11:39 PM

Originally posted by Nipsy
Think differently is the correct usage in the traditional sense.

'I want you to think differently and establish a new paradigm.'

Think different is correct in a colloquial usage, but not in the adverbial sense.

'Think geek. Think big. Think different.'

Think differently implies that you should change your thought process. Think different implies that you should think about something different.

That sounds right to me.

In fact, that was kinda what I was trying to say, but it just came
out differently. :o :rolleyes: ;)

saint

Mar 6, 2003, 11:42 PM

This is part of a press release from Apple after they received some criticism when they first introduced the Think Different campaign:

Although some might want "different" to perform as an adverb in this phrase, complete with an "ly" ending, Apple and its advertising agency intend it as a fanciful category, just as we might say "Think yellow," "Think change" or "Think playful."

There is no way Apple would make a mistake like that in their biggest advertising campaign ever.

janey

Mar 7, 2003, 12:03 AM

cool...just wonderin because everyone's telling me it's incorrect english :rolleyes:

mymemory

Mar 7, 2003, 12:11 AM

Well, they actually are telling you to think in a different way:D

For me is the same, when I was an exchange student between us we spoke english in our own way and it always made sence until we had to talk to some one from the US. I mean, we were expressing ourself without so much trouble, brazilians, germans, swis, colombians, you name it. We had our FEZ dialect.

voicegy

Mar 7, 2003, 01:05 AM

Those people who say the statement is inappropriate grammar are usually PC users.

Case closed as far as I'm concerned, along with the Apple press release and the information provided from the learned people quoted above. Geesh, this campaign is SOOOO over, anyway!:o

NavyIntel007

Mar 7, 2003, 02:19 AM

Oh who cares?:rolleyes:

Dignan

Mar 7, 2003, 02:28 AM

ever think that they might have put "think different" because they were thinking differently?

HA HAAAA!

Sun Baked

Mar 7, 2003, 02:47 AM

Me thinks, smart people not so smart, if they continue to argue about a two word ad campaign for so long.

Almost as bad as two rednecks arguing for years over whose farts smell the worst.

shadowfax

Mar 7, 2003, 05:22 AM

this is definitely a case of PC (in the generic sense) envy... they are just befuddled by apple and attack anything about it. if MS had made the ad, they'd probably be fine. or something like that. different is an adjective. it modifies an unspecified noun, thus, as Nipsy pointed out, it's "think about something different."

go tell your bitch english teacher she has no appreciation of ellipsis. this is not a colloquialism.

janey

Mar 8, 2003, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by Shadowfax
go tell your bitch english teacher she has no appreciation of ellipsis. this is not a colloquialism.
i told her that and she still claims that it's incorrect english...and well she was a mac user :rolleyes:

scem0

Mar 8, 2003, 03:28 PM

Originally posted by übergeek
i told her that and she still claims that it's incorrect english...and well she was a mac user :rolleyes:

did you even call her a bitch?!?!? :D :D

PC Clone

Mar 8, 2003, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by Shadowfax
this is definitely a case of PC (in the generic sense) envy...
Ha!

Kwyjibo

Mar 8, 2003, 06:03 PM

It seems like a command to me which would make it proper to say "think different"

janey

Mar 8, 2003, 11:12 PM

Originally posted by scem0
did you even call her a bitch?!?!? :D :D
i almost did ;)
I'm not gonna throw my hard earned A down the drain by calling her a bitch ;)

MrMacMan

Mar 9, 2003, 01:18 AM

Originally posted by übergeek
i almost did ;)
I'm not gonna throw my hard earned A down the drain by calling her a bitch ;)
hehe.
Think Different by saying it 'think different'

Kwyjibo

Mar 9, 2003, 02:04 AM

Originally posted by übergeek
i almost did ;)
I'm not gonna throw my hard earned A down the drain by calling her a bitch ;)

if your teacher can take away an A because you swore at her then you probably aren't well entrenched in that A. I mean in most schools your behavior will not effect your grade well not past liek 2nd grade atleast unless your a huge suckup ubergeek.

janey

Mar 9, 2003, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Kwyjibo
if your teacher can take away an A because you swore at her then you probably aren't well entrenched in that A. I mean in most schools your behavior will not effect your grade well not past liek 2nd grade atleast unless your a huge suckup ubergeek.
someone once called her a bitch and she got him expelled.
I have the highest A in all of her classes nevertheless i am not going to call her a bitch.

scem0

Mar 9, 2003, 05:38 PM

It is always good to be on your teachers good side.

None of my teachers would expell and it wouldn't affect my grade
except for my IPC (Integrated physics and chemistry) teacher,
who is SUCH A BITCH. She gave me a referall for saying 'hell'.
I said 'what the hell' and she gave me a referall! I wanted to
slap her and scream "have you not heard every other student
in this room cuss 999999 times, with words much worse than
the most commonly used word in the ****ING bible?!?!" Well,
it isn't the most commonly used word in the bible, but it certainly
would get my point across ;).

daniel77

Mar 10, 2003, 09:21 AM

shadowfax

Mar 13, 2003, 09:42 AM

you told her really simply that it's ellipsis, you know, that RHETORICAL DEVICE that's common in literature where writers leave words out so that technically their sentences are fragments and their language incorrect, but their language is accepted as correct because it's really, truly what our language is for? at a high level, English isn't about a rulebook. Try some Emily Dickinson. some James Joyce, for God's sake. real english teachers don't spit on rhetorical talent. i believe in the dictionary and the grammar book as much as the next teacher, but you can't just look straight to the simple stuff. you need a high school/college level grammar that has "higher level" "rules," namely, here, ellipsis.

i'll bet you $50 your teacher won't let you end sentences with prepositions--you should do it just to piss with her.

to quote winston churchill (i think):
"ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which i will not put."

barring that, go with sun baked. who gives what she thinks? she's obviously one of those boxed in people set on not appreciating language for anything but a simplistic first-grade phenomenon where you have to say everything exactly as you mean it. she's someone who would enjoy Orwell's Newspeak--just one way to express any single emotion. phaugh. i have a ******* english teacher this year too, sorry. i HATE them, damned philistines. anyways, i'm done ranting.

shadowfax

Mar 13, 2003, 09:52 AM

Originally posted by scem0
It is always good to be on your teachers good side.

None of my teachers would expell and it wouldn't affect my grade
except for my IPC (Integrated physics and chemistry) teacher,
who is SUCH A BITCH. She gave me a referall for saying 'hell'.
I said 'what the hell' and she gave me a referall! I wanted to
slap her and scream "have you not heard every other student
in this room cuss 999999 times, with words much worse than
the most commonly used word in the ****ING bible?!?!" Well,
it isn't the most commonly used word in the bible, but it certainly
would get my point across ;).

at westwood, i use "damn" and "hell" with several of my teachers frequently, though i have to be careful to clean up with several, because many don't appreciate it. it's not really hypocrisy--granted, giving you a referral (the first time you say it) is, but some human beings are just simply offended by that mode of expression, and you have to respect that. if you don't, after you've been warned, you deserve a referral.

and your point about its being used in the bible (or daniel77's about the videos) is moot. hell and god are words that aren't curse words per se. it's all in how you use them. "hell is a terrible place," or "god is good," and "the unrighteous shall be damned" are examples of universally accepted "healthy," non-offensive uses of them. "go to hell," "what the hell isyour problem," "god damn it," and "god! another 67?!" are good examples of uses that will get you a referral, or (:o dare i say it?) a PG rating...

if you got your referral the first time you used such language, you have a legitimate gripe, and i'll support any w(b)itch hunt you wanna start against the teacher(s), but if you'd been warned, you have only yourself to blame.

WinterMute

Mar 13, 2003, 01:39 PM

I'm afraid I use bad language in my classes all the time, it's got to the stage that, when I swear the students all chorus "That's a technical phrase, obviously", which was what I used to say.

Last semester one of my students came up after a class and asked "is it really necassary to swear so much?" to which my (genuinly) unthinking answer was "***** yes!"

I encourage open and frank exchange of views by adults (albeit young adults) in class, swearing is forceful punctation, and as long as it's not personal it's OK, personal gets you slung out the door...:D

vniow

Mar 13, 2003, 02:00 PM

In the HS I went to in the Midwest, swearing was not allowed at all, if a student just casually said damn anywhere near a teacher they'd get a warning or something.

My mom even gives me a look when I say damn or piss in front of her (I'm 18 now, I'm not a little girl anymore http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=251202)

But when I moved out to Cali, one of my teachers called herself the Alpha Bitch and the second school I went to here the students were actually encouraged to say those 'nasty words'.

To be honest I felt a lot more comfortable in the last HS I went to for that reason (and more).

scem0

Mar 13, 2003, 02:04 PM

it is true that my argument that it is used in the
bible is stupid, and doesn't make sense, but I
was quoting someone when I said it. I was
doing an impression of a comedian named Pablo
Francisco (so funny, download some of his acts).
Ughhh, she annoys me. She has a lisp and her
name is Ms. Sanda, so at the beginning of the
year we should hav eplayed a trick on her and
called her Ms. Shanda, and she wouldn't be able
to correct it, because she can't say her name
correctly. I'm evil. ;) :D :D :p