On 2008 Jan 16 , at 8:06 PM, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. wrote:
The Subway FootlongR and Subway 6 Inch SubsR are trade mark names
used to
describe our sub sizes. This is to differentiate the difference
between
large and small serving sizes. Due to the baking and cutting process
the
size of subs may vary.
What a pity that they have such limited imagination.
They say they just want to "differentiate" between their larger and
smaller sandwich sizes, and yet they can't think of any better way
than "Footlong" and "6 Inch".
First of all, that might not work (it might not "differentiate",
as is their stated desire).
What if some of the people reading their ads or their signs don't know
how long a foot is or how long an inch is? They might read it as:
One sandwich is "one" something long while the other is "6"
something-elses long -
surely the "six" sandwich must be bigger than the "one" sandwich.
Or they might just not understand which is longer at all.
Secondly, there are so many other better ways to do it, some of
which are better (for THEM) without any of the metric stuff that we'd
like to see. Here are some possibilities:
1. Their stated purpose could be met better by describing their
sandwiches as:
"The Subway Long Sandwich" and "The Subway Half-Long Sandwich".
That says what they want to convey and does not have the drawback in
#1 above.
2. Here's an even better idea (IMHO):
"The Subway Long Sandwich" for the SHORTER one and "The Subway Double
Long Sandwich" for the other one.
3. If they really want to use actual measures, even if
approximate, they could call them:
"The Subway 30 cm Sandwich" and "The Subway 15 cm Sandwich"
as has already been mentioned on this list.
4. Maybe using metres would make the sandwiches seem longer:
"The Subway Third of a Metre Sandwich" and ... well, "The Sixth of a
Metre Sandwich" doesn't sound so good!
5. They could define their own "basic sandwich length" calling
it "The Sub" (or whatever) and label the sandwiches:
"The Full Sub Sandwich" and "The Half Sub Sandwich" (or just "The Sub"
and "The Half Sub").
One's imagination could be allowed to run wild and call the two
sandwiches:
The Kangaroo and The Wallaby
The Big Guy and the Little Guy
Large and Gigantic
Aussie Size (or Oz Size) and Kiwi Size
The Big Fat American Size and The Fit-and-Trim Aussie Size
The Super Sydney Size and The Alice Size
Big As All Outdoors and Big As A Little Outdoors
Oh, this is just too much fun! I could go on making up names all night
long. What's the matter with these guys that they can't think of
anything better than "Footlong" and "6 Inch". How dull and prosaic.
Bill Hooper
1810 mm tall
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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SImplification Begins With SI.
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