Punch You Action
Brand names that build in punctuation. There are teams of people working for companies which make sure that journalists like me spell things the right way. Only the wrong way, but in keeping with the brand.
Dixons recently rebranded to Currys.digital. That “curries with capital c and a y and s and dot digital with a small d - all lowercase”. If you ask their marketing people what happens when the word in the middle of a sentence?
It’s “curries with capital c and a y and s and dot digital with a small d - all lowercase”
Can I go back to using proper punctuation when I’m not writing about you?
Thanks.
It’s like Which? magazine, the publication of the Consumers’ Association. You always have to use the question mark, even if it’s in the middle of sentence, like just then. You can add your own punctuation on afterwards.
Examples:
Don’t delay! Save £££s (don’t…) on your subscription to Which?!
Did you read that article in Which??
The spell checker on this laptop is also in on the conspiracy. If I spell PlayStation any other way other than the branded version - capital p and captial s with no space - then it puts a squiggly line under it.
Check it out.
And I used to run a website that that had a women’s portal called iCircle and they were the same. I know! Capital c right there like a grammatical speed bump in the world.
I’d spare you how this looks in a headline and opt to be less bothered by this tomorrow.
Have a good weekend, all. Weekend song tomorrow is a good one.
June 29th, 2007 at 7:54 am
You should get a job on Wallpaper* magazine, Cliff!
June 29th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I think that is why everyone calls it Which? magazine, which mildly mitigates the punctuation craziness. But I agree with you. I am irritated by iPod. It is awkward to type because of the taboo on capital letters in the middle of the sentence. My fingers just don’t want to go i-shift&p-o-d. And you know what? I don’t blame them.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:15 am
AS you are all no doubt aware, I rarely pay attention to a keystroke after it has left my fingertips.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Oh but style guides are fun, go on admit it.
And that Which? thing just gave you a free interrobang, which has to be a good thing.
I can see where you’re coming from though. Are we going to form a Lynne Truss style This Is This odd punctuation hit squad?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Over-Capitalisation Is Surely Also A Problem, Do You Not Think, Cliff? That sort of funny business helps you squeeze wee self-referential jokes like This in.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I like a liberal approach to typing.
Which magazine?
FB - I’m dousing the torches as we speak. Bring pitchforks.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:40 am
There’s an Aussie wine brand called [yellow tail]. That’s right: all lower case, two words, with square brackets.
But this is an extreme affectation of branding that simply shouldn’t be pandered to in the middle of copy. It just looks bloody stupid. It became Yellow Tail in the mag I was subbing at the time.