Engineering amazing

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
Thu Sep 15 18:05:38 UTC 2011


On Sep 15, 2011, at 10:46 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> Sorry. Not the website (that was just for reference) but the expression. It's more engaging than Apple's "Think different."

it *could* be that Lexus's "engineering amazing" was intended to convey 'engineering amazingly' (parallel to Apple's "think different"). but the interpretation i got was with "amazing" as a nouning of the adjective "amazing", so that it's the direct object of "engineering": Lexus engineers amazing stuff.

there's also an interpretation with zero copula: '(our) engineering is amazing' (as in "engineering: amazing", parallel to "value: priceless").

i wouldn't be surprised if the ad agency was going for two or even all three of these interpretations.

arnold

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