Originally published at: Ohio State University owns the word "THE" after battle with Marc Jacobs | Boing Boing
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Some serious opioids must have been consumed by THE combatants.
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This is the end.
(PS. And The The would like a word.)
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I was reading about Marc Jacobs just the other day.
After a recent visit to the packed-to-the-gills shop, we not only noticed the cheaper feel of the goods, but also a shift in branding the inexpensive items. Instead of sporting the simple, slick “Marc Jacobs” like of his main line, the embossed interior now reads ridiculous: “Jacobs by Marc Jacobs for Marc by Marc Jacobs. In collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Marc by Marc Jacobs .”
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Well, it depends on what your definition of is is.
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Does the trademark stipulate pronunciation? The comes as Thee and Thuh. If so, then we ought to quickly trademark a the other than their the.
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I went to Ohio University, a quaint little school in the small town of Athens. Ohio State University (I’m not using the the) is a behemoth in the big city (ha) of Columbus. I’m guessing the the is to not confuse the two. Whatever. Maybe OU should start calling themselves The Ohio University just to fuck with OSU (TOSU?).
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About a decade ago, my wife and I were taking our first grown-up trip to Paris, and we wound up at Galeries Lafayette, looking at the ceiling. My wife expressed interest in a handbag, and I decided to be the best husband and buy it for her, rather than use any souvenir money on myself. I used by best bad French to ask the sales girl about it, and she took pity and asked me again what I wanted in English.
“There was a Marc Jacobs handbag here the other day, but I can’t find it.”
“We have no Marc Jacobs bags here.”
“Oh! Are you sure? I saw it right here. It was gray and about this big?”
“Nothing by Marc Jacobs. Did you mean Marc by Marc Jacobs?”
My wife got her purse, but I wondered later if she was messing with me because I was American, because I was a clueless man, or because I murdered her poor language. Probably all three.
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I think you mean The Definite Article.
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I need a shirt that says “Definite Article”. I will have to explain it to everyone, and will stop finding it amusing long before I even get to wear it.
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I’m thinking that maybe they could get in trouble if you thought you were buying [what I’m assuming would be] a higher-status item. I.e., they might be in danger of illegally misrepresenting the goods for sale if they allowed you to think that they carried “Marc Jacobs” brand goods rather than “Marc by Marc Jacobs” brand goods. Perhaps it’s even in their contract, that that store can sell only the one but not the other—so to keep the “Marc Jacobs” brand very exclusive. It may have had nothing at all to do with you in particular. That’s how my mind runs, anyway.
(I could be wrong about which is the higher status, but I do believe they are two different levels of status/quality.)
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I think you’re missing an opportunity to make a statement with punctuation:
THE:
DEFINITE ARTICLE
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Got something on my mind
As someone who just wrapped a PhD at THE Pennsylvania State University, I can attest that OSU doesn’t even have a monopoly on the use of the definite article when it comes to the very specific category of eponymous state schools. Seems weird for them to be granted a trademark claim on the word.
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For the football team, The Holy Definite Article has been known to “travel.”
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Oh, yeah? So how come they haven’t registered the domain “theosu.edu” yet?
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The whole illusion of these brand tiers is that the lower levels incorporate less expensive materials and cheaper manufacturing techniques. So, if your wife expected the real deal, and you bought something that merely looks the part, that could be a bit of an insult.
To me, the most obvious example of this is Ralph Lauren, which sells affordable stuff at Macy’s, and “purple label” stuff for thousands of dollars at Nieman Marcus.
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Shoe companies should do the same. Cheap Nikes would be “N by Ni, manufactured by Nik at Nike”
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This is a good hypothesis. I spent enough time in France to know that they have extensive and strict laws around all aspects of clothing manufacturer/sale. It’s an industry they take very seriously.
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