Aielyn said:
yo_john117 said:
Aielyn said:
yo_john117 - Again, it's not the deal (the contract), it's the marketing. It's what they actually *say* about the deal. I challenge you to find an example of a house, car, etc deal in which they sell it in the same way that MS is selling their deal - that is, using words like "only" against only part of the cost, etc. You'll be hard-pressed, because they always use terms to make it clear, like "downpayment", "deposit", or "up front". And somewhere (often the fine print) they list the "minimum total price" (this is common, for instance, in gyms - where, if you want to cancel before the contract is up, you have to pay out the remainder of the minimum price).
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You simply do not get it. Why?
Their marketing is no different than other marketing for contract items. The word "only" is used ONLY for the $99 part which is true. The initial cost is ONLY $99 which is far cheaper than the initial price of a non-contract 360.
I see only 3 reasons why you would keep on with your nonsense.
A: Cultural difference - maybe marketing doesn't work that way in Australia, but it does in the US.
B: You've never in your life seen marketing for a household product with a contract before (or even non-contract products with hidden fees) (and no I am not talking about houses, I never was)
C: You're simply the kind of person that feels the need that they have to win every argument/debate/fight they've ever been in so even though your arguments are completely ridiculous and invalid you won't stop until you've "won".
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I'm sorry, but the word "only" has only one definition, and that definition can only be modified by actual modifiers (Not necessarily....). If I told you that my car only cost $40, that would be a blatant lie, even if that's all I had to pay up front. The only way to make it accurate in that case would be to say "my car only cost $40 up front" (even then, it's a little vague).
Can you honestly tell me that, if I said "I just bought my Xbox 360 for only $99", you would reasonably assume that I had bought it for $99 + $15 per month for 24 months? Even if there was some gesture to say that there's more to be said, I'm fairly confident that you would assume that the total price was $99. Note that I'm not including sales tax in this discussion - use of "only" without factoring in sales tax is a different issue (I prefer the Australian system, sales tax must be included in the quoted price).
There might be a cultural difference involved, though - does America have strong protections against false advertising?
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only [ˈəʊnlɪ]
adj (prenominal)
1. the. being single or very few in number the only men left in town were too old to bear arms
2. (of a child) having no siblings
3. unique by virtue of being superior to anything else; peerless
one and only
a. (adjective) incomparable; unique
b. (as noun) the object of all one's love you are my one and only
adv
1. without anyone or anything else being included; alone you have one choice only only a genius can do that
2. merely or just it's only Henry
3. no more or no greater than we met only an hour ago
4. Irish (intensifier) she was only marvellous it was only dreadful
5. used in conditional clauses introduced by if to emphasize the impossibility of the condition ever being fulfilled if I had only known, this would never have happened
6. not earlier than; not…until I only found out yesterday
if only or if…only an expression used to introduce a wish, esp one felt to be unrealizable
only if never…except when
only too
a. (intensifier) he was only too pleased to help
b. most regrettably (esp in the phrase only too true)
sentence connector
but; however: used to introduce an exception or condition
play outside: only don't go into the street
[Old English ānlīc, from ān one + -līc -ly2]
Usage: In informal English, only is often used as a sentence connector: I would have phoned you, only I didn't know your number. This use should be avoided in formal writing: I would have phoned you if I'd known your number. In formal speech and writing, only is placed directly before the word or words that it modifies: she could interview only three applicants in the morning. In all but the most formal contexts, however, it is generally regarded as acceptable to put only before the verb: she could only interview three applicants in the morning. Care must be taken not to create ambiguity, esp in written English, in which intonation will not, as it does in speech, help to show to which item in the sentence only applies. A sentence such as she only drinks tea in the afternoon is capable of two interpretations and is therefore better rephrased either as she drinks only tea in the afternoon (i.e. no other drink) or she drinks tea only in the afternoon (i.e. at no other time)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
*see where I bolded "merely or just". Replace the word "Only" with the word "Merely" or the word "Just". That's the interpretation that the rest of the world sees when we look at that ad.
"Your honor, I rest my case!"
