Hopefully this doesn't veer OT, but let's see if we have agreement or not...
From: saqqara [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:22 AM
> In the case of Toys <mirror>R</mirror> Us, stating the R is incorrect is
> a value judgement..
If one is speakinging in terms of English orthography, then this is not a value judgement, it is a simple statement of fact. The "R" is turned backwards to evoke the backwards letters often written by children still learning to read and write.
> You cannot presume as fact these constructions are 'to get attention', they
If they're advertising? No, I feel pretty safe making a universal statement that the purpose of advertising is to get attention. Do you really consider this controversial?
> may be to produce a more pleasing symmetry or communicate meaning, just as
> the Egyptians had a different notion of writing than is supported by our
> more functional alphabetic scripts. Although my gut feeling agrees with
> yours on plain text implications for Latin script, I haven't studied the
> subject in depth so I may well be wrong.
We're talking about my only language here. There is no implicit meaning gained by glitching characters other than "buy X" or "subscribe to belief Y", which does not add meaning to the words, just the letters that are glitched. Nor does the glitching improve symmetry - it destroys it, which is why it gets attention - it stand out precisely because it is wrong.
/|/|ike
