4 ms·

It certainly sounds weird to english speakers. I imagine they shorten sentences to not lose people's attention.

eproxus 4y ago
Would it be equally weird or correct to write the macOS? After all, it’s short for “Mac Operating System”. I’m not a native speaker so I’m genuinely curious.
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
It's deliberate. I guarantee that it's about building a "brand mindset." They've been playing with text copy for decades. If you say "iPhone," instead of "The iPhone," you've turned "iPhone" into a pronoun. That has a different "connection" to people that hear it. Branding seems to be something that a lot of tecchies (including Yours Truly) have difficulty with. There's a lot of subtle psychological games that aren't easy to quantify.
- Adraghast 4y ago
  Do you mean common noun instead of pronoun?
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    I think of it as a “pronoun.” It makes it into a “person,” or some kind of major deal, like we call localities (usually) by their single pronouns. Sometimes, “The” becomes part of the pronoun, like “The Netherlands,” or “The Bronx.” Usually, though, we assign pronouns (I’m not an English major, though, so the proper term may be different). Like, you can’t have “a brooklyn,” or “an amsterdam.” They want to make it so we can’t have “an iPhone.” Good luck with that…
    - whynaut 4y ago
      The term you want is Proper Noun.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
        That makes sense. Thanks!
    - skyyler 4y ago
      >Like, you can't have "a brooklyn" Every Brooklyn outside of the one in NYC is just "a Brooklyn" and not "THE Brookyln"
      - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
        Fair point. Then you also have Brookline, in Bastin.
  - wizofaus 4y ago
    It's already a proper noun (not a pronoun!), but it's being treated almost as though the name of every individual Apple device is the product brand name, which is weird. Using a product brand name without an article is normally only done for uncountable/mass noun things like "gorilla glue" or many food/drink products.
rootusrootus 4y ago
Only if you don't pay much attention to PR. Lots of manufacturers talk this way when referring to their own products. Apple isn't blazing a new trail here.

Would it be equally weird or correct to write the macOS? After all, it’s short for “Mac Operating System”. I’m not a native speaker so I’m genuinely curious.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

It's deliberate. I guarantee that it's about building a "brand mindset." They've been playing with text copy for decades. If you say "iPhone," instead of "The iPhone," you've turned "iPhone" into a pronoun. That has a different "connection" to people that hear it. Branding seems to be something that a lot of tecchies (including Yours Truly) have difficulty with. There's a lot of subtle psychological games that aren't easy to quantify.

Adraghast 4y ago
Do you mean common noun instead of pronoun?
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  I think of it as a “pronoun.” It makes it into a “person,” or some kind of major deal, like we call localities (usually) by their single pronouns. Sometimes, “The” becomes part of the pronoun, like “The Netherlands,” or “The Bronx.” Usually, though, we assign pronouns (I’m not an English major, though, so the proper term may be different). Like, you can’t have “a brooklyn,” or “an amsterdam.” They want to make it so we can’t have “an iPhone.” Good luck with that…
  - whynaut 4y ago
    The term you want is Proper Noun.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
      That makes sense. Thanks!
  - skyyler 4y ago
    >Like, you can't have "a brooklyn" Every Brooklyn outside of the one in NYC is just "a Brooklyn" and not "THE Brookyln"
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
      Fair point. Then you also have Brookline, in Bastin.
- wizofaus 4y ago
  It's already a proper noun (not a pronoun!), but it's being treated almost as though the name of every individual Apple device is the product brand name, which is weird. Using a product brand name without an article is normally only done for uncountable/mass noun things like "gorilla glue" or many food/drink products.

rootusrootus 4y ago

Only if you don't pay much attention to PR. Lots of manufacturers talk this way when referring to their own products. Apple isn't blazing a new trail here.