"NOT cheap imitations, but genuine replicas!" [NT]

[Jonathan Lighter]

If I wanted a Rolex knock-off, I'd want an "exact replica."  But an "exact"
replica would be indistinguishable from the real thing, work as well, and
probably cost at least as much.   A truly "exact" replica would also sport
the Rolex trademark and thus be a lawsuit-inviting counterfeit.  So they
need to use a word other than "exact."

Hey, "genuine" sounds good!  Because it is a true knock-off. I mean
"replica."

JL

On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 4:00 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "NOT cheap imitations, but genuine replicas!" [NT]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> License? A replica of something notable, like the Eames chair, can be
> authorized, in which case it wouldn't be called an imitation.
>
> m a m
>
>
> On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 2:45 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
>
> > At 2:31 PM -0400 5/13/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > What distinguishes between an "imitation" of a Rolex and a "replica" of a
> > Rolex?
> >
> > Price.  The latter is more costly.
> > Besides "genuine replica" (less obviously oxymoronic than "genuine
> > imitation"), there's also "exact replica", while "exact imitation"
> > seems less likely to me.  Contrarily, "pale imitation" seems more
> > natural than "pale replica".
> >
> >
> >
>
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