On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, Portis wrote:
quoted 7 lines I find the fact that they use "Virtually" a lot also. "It can> I find the fact that they use "Virtually" a lot also. "It can
> leave your dishes virtually spotless", or "you can have all this satisfaction
> with virtually no side effects." or maybe even "you could be driving your
> new Honda with virtually nothing down".
>
> Virtually has very little meaning.
>
It has a particular and precise meaning in computer science; if something
is virtual it means that a particular task's implementation is made easier
by making some simplifying assumption that isn't actually true. This
divides the program into two simpler parts -- one that assumes something to
make the problem easier to solve, and another that fools the other half
into thinking that it's true.
As we know, it's easy to fool someone into beliving something is so, if they
want to believe it. That explains the popularity of George W. Bush; people
want to believe his lies, because the truth is complicated and scary.
In the case of the advertising slogans above, virtually means that they're
pretending they can leave your dishes spotless, and inviting you to pretend
their product works. They're selling you a fantasy that's more attractive
than the reality -- the fact is that if you make cornbread and put the dishes
in the dishwasher without rinsing them, they're gonna come out gritty, no
matter what you pour in the dishwasher.
My favorite ad-speak is a gum commercial from the 70s, that asserted
"Of all the best tasting gums, Trident is sugarless." Which is a semantic
bucket that carries no water -- the first part of the sentence implies
a connection to the second part that doesn't exist.`
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