UM clothing in news for wrong reason
Old Navy's UM gear made the news. Because they forgot the apostrophe.
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/fallfashion/grammar-fail-on-old-navys-college-t-shirts-uh-oh-2531551/
Begs the question -- does the banner have an apostrophe? Does all UM use of the phrase always have it?
August 24th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^
The banner reads "GO BLUE." There is no "Let's" on it.
(BTW, the expression "Begs the question" has nothing to do with raising a question.)
August 24th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
I hate to break it to you, but in modern day language "begs the question" does mean "raises a question". Depending on the context it can refer to the saying above or the logical fallacy.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
Just because everyone misunderstands the phrase doesn't cause the phrase to change meaning.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:47 PM ^
I'm not even an armchair linguist, but when everyone understands a phrase a certain way, that's kind of the definition of meaning.
(For the record, I'm also bummed about "begging the question" losing its function as a precise philosophical descriptor, but so goes language, I guess.)
August 25th, 2011 at 1:16 AM ^
Exactly. Almost all changes in a language result from it being bastardized, and these changes occur all the time. Examples are endless. Just think of what people must have thought when some kids started using "cool" as it's most commonly used today. Stupid kids don't even know that "cool" is a statement about the temperature. Some change in spelling or pronunciation or grammar, like English dropping gender, are all wrong according to some already established language. We're just speaking middle English poorly, and they in turn spoke old English poorly, and so on and so on. The line where something is still wrong or has become established enough to be recognized is a matter of opinion. It's insane to say that EVERYONE (or anything close to everyone) misunderstands some phrase like "begging the question". I was a philosophy major and it doesn't bother me when people say "begging the question" as it's most often used nowadays. "Could care less" though is annoyingly ignorant, but, that's just like...my opinion, man.
August 24th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
I refer you to writer and actor Stephen Fry. I also recommend the whole podcast from his site (it's 30 min or so).EDIT: Just in case the video isn't working... Stephen Fry Video
August 24th, 2011 at 7:00 PM ^
How are you defining "modern-day language?" If your definition is "The way people communicate on the internet," then the floodgates are open for all kinds of craziness.
English professors, as a rule, hate this abuse of "begging the question."
August 24th, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
Also people with logic and philosophy backgrounds.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^
That is not the only thing English professors hate.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:28 PM ^
LOLWUT? As another example, just because everyone says "I could care less," that doesn't change the meaning of the word could to couldn't.
August 24th, 2011 at 11:32 PM ^
The phrase "I could care less" is a perfect example of a phrase that has changed meaning because of its common usage. Unless they're being intentionally obtuse, very few people would hear the phrase in context and take it to mean "there are different ways in which I could be more apathetic." Rather, the vast majority of people will understand the intended message of "I really don't care at all." And this is just what meaning is -- the intended information is easily extracted from the utterance by the intended audience.
You can say that this particular construction lacks art and is contradictory in an unreflective way, and you can strenuously avoid using it (and I'll be with you). But to say that the phrase lacks meaning because it doesn't adhere to proper English, as handed down from the mountain by Shakespeare at the beginning of time, is false.
/Stephen Fry still hates me for being a pedant
August 24th, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^
thats an fine looking-shirt to i,
August 24th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
Why does the t-shirt use: Lets Go !! Blue ?
Shouldn't it be Let's Go Blue !! ?
(I know about the apostrophe issue, just curious about the exclamation mark issue).
Also haha Old Navy.
Also this shirt uses Let's properly: http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/sports-products/michigan-wolverines-ad…
August 24th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
that it's "Let's Go, Blue!!" There should be a comma before blue.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:22 PM ^
Double!! Fail'
August 24th, 2011 at 5:26 PM ^
They made these for a bunch of schools and all of them have the same typo. Our local news used the Colorado one.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:32 PM ^
Perhaps they were editorializing regarding last year's defense, where instead of making a tackle the defender inexplicably lets go and watches the opponent waltz into the endzone. Hopefully Mattison's crew will make sure that is a thing of the past.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:36 PM ^
Personally, I'm not too likely to buy a Michigan Shirt from Old Navy or Walmart. MGoshirts for me!
August 24th, 2011 at 5:37 PM ^
while we're being language Nazi's you misused "begs the question"
August 24th, 2011 at 5:42 PM ^
I find this to be quite annoying. Why can't people just say "this raises the question" or something like that?
It's not as if the topic at issue is prostrating itself before a question.
Do people think it sounds smarter to misuse a term for a type of fallacious logic?
August 24th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
While I'm careful not to say "begs the question" when I mean "raises the question," I can see why people do it. The English language (as you're no doubt well aware) is full of sayings that don't make literal sense. The other day I was surprised when someone didn't know what I meant when I said that I left one job to take another one. She didn't know what it meant to "take" a job, which makes sense in a certain very rigid way...Where I'm going with this (if I'm going anywhere) is that I don't have a problem with the mis-use of phrases and terms as long as most people understand what the person meant.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:32 PM ^
I think part of it is coming from a field where certain terms are used in a very specific, strict sense. If that's one's background, it can be irritating to hear such phrases thrown around haphazardly in common usage, knowing full well that the person speaking doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.
If you don't have the particular background, then the people in paragraph 1 are likely to come off like self-important yet inconsequential snobs. At the end of the day, I'll know what you mean when you say "begs the question," and for many people that's good enough.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:39 PM ^
August 24th, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
Just adding to this topic of our clothing being used for the wrong reasons. I work in a prison close to NYC. I also worked for Michigan football in '03-'07, so i have a ton of nike/michigan football clothing. I was made aware at one of our recent staff trainings that street Gangs (the Mexican mafia) has adopted our Block "M" clothing as a sort of uniform and that i will be unable to wear my michigan clothing to work.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:50 PM ^
that is very true. I was in Cabo last summer and I have a Block M on my shoulder. I was approached by one of the workers and he told me if I was going to leave the resort, I needed to cover it up.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^
(NSFWorH)
Scroll down to the middle pictures in the top row of thumbnails.
http://egotastic.com/2011/08/lucy-pinder-topless-and-nuts-about-2012/
August 24th, 2011 at 5:51 PM ^
touche
August 24th, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^
what sort of photoshop wizadry is this??
Can't be real, right?
August 24th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
They're real... and spectacular.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^
You happened to come upon "the middle picture in the top row of thumbnails" how? :)
August 24th, 2011 at 6:31 PM ^
A different sort of MANBALL.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^
for that link my son.
( aaamich fan )
August 24th, 2011 at 6:21 PM ^
the shirt would still suck.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
This is why you don't outsource to places that don't speak English as native language.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
They were made in Ohio.
August 24th, 2011 at 7:03 PM ^
Detroit Zoo Wolverine says...
Now that's funny
August 24th, 2011 at 7:18 PM ^
Does anyone else find it interesting that after revealing the not-so-accurate phrase on the shirt, they identified that the distribution included 70 "schools of higher learning" and placed MICHIGAN'S shirt in the article? Could this be some attempt by the writer to make Michigan appear the less-scholarly of the bunch?
The apparent apostrophe “faux pas” may very well have been purposeful as it has the potential of receiving a lot of press. I would imagine in the clothing world, even bad press is still press. Situations like this may enable a piece to become a collector's item among those in the literary world.
A similar point, however, can be made for the photo placement in the article. These kinds of photo-to-article attachments can become ways in which a writer can continue to speak beyond his written words (ala a picture is worth a thousand words) in an attempt to impress upon the writer's opinions to the reader’s subconscious without actually doing the more difficult task of writing the opinion-forming words.
At least it’s not a repeat of “Go Wolverines” as earlier depicted in the new scoreboard design.
August 24th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^
I thought for a moment that Casey Anthony had switched over from her slammin' OSU gear and this is just an Old Navy fail.
August 24th, 2011 at 9:18 PM ^
What a great marketing gimmick by Old Navy. Until today I had no idea they sold college t-shirts. There is no way they could have bought more effective advertising, and it cost them almost nothing.