OT: The Power & Stupidity of Advertising

[RockyMTblue2]

Ah, the digital, computerized world we live in. I'm sure we have all or almost all experienced something like this: You got to a retail website and look at an item, but move on without purchasing. You come to say the Boneyard (sans ad blocker) and low and behold the item in question is at the top of the page AND it's still there 2 weeks later. And the same thing is happening at all sorts of sites. I have my ad blocker off this AM and a windbreaker I looked at around Christmas time is still being pushed at me here and elsewhere. For websites that have your e-mail address you also get messages like "your item(s) still available".

You'd think that after a week or so they'd shove something else your way, no?

 

[Phil]

Just be thankful you didn't search for something embarrassing

 

[meyers7]

Hmmm, right now I've got ads for starting a new website and for a dedicated server. I wonder if it thinks/knows the Mods are after me?

 

[triaddukefan]

Welp..... I turned off the ad-blocker to see what you were fussing about..... and a Under-Armour ad popped up at the top and on the side Considering I bought an under armour top a few weeks ago.... and ordered another top last week... and some more gear a few days ago........ Now it says the Semi-Annual Sale Event has started..... I think i need to turn the ad-blocker back on

 

[connie]

ou'd think that after a week or so they'd shove something else your way, no?

When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress
tells me gravely, "They do not make them so now," not emphasizing
the "They" at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as
the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply
because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so
rash. When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment
absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that
I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree
of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they
may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; and, finally, I am
inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more
emphasis of the "they" -- "It is true, they did not make them so
recently, but they do now."

-Walden

 

[triaddukefan]

Just be thankful you didn't search for something embarrassing

So that explains some of the ad's that were popping up on my page last summer

 

[RockyMTblue2]

When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress
tells me gravely, "They do not make them so now," not emphasizing
the "They" at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as
the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply
because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so
rash. When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment
absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that
I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree
of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they
may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; and, finally, I am
inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more
emphasis of the "they" -- "It is true, they did not make them so
recently, but they do now."

-Walden

Have you heard of the terrible family They,

And the dreadful, venomous things They say?

Why, half the gossip under the sun,

If you trace it back, you will find begun

In that wretched House of They.

A numerous family, so I am told,

And its genealogical tree is old;

For ever since Adam and Eve began

To build up the curious race of man,

Has existed the House of They.

Gossip-mongers and spreaders of lies,

Horrid people whom all despise!

And yet the best of us now and then,

Repeat queer tales about women and men

And quote the House of They.

They live like lords, and never labor;

A They`s one task is to watch his neighbor,

And tell his business and private affairs

To the world at large; they are sowers of tares-

These folks in the House of They.

It is wholly useless to follow a They

With a whip or a gun, for he slips away

And into his house, where you cannot go;

It is locked and bolted and guarded so-

This horrible House of They.

Though you cannot get in, yet they got out,

And spread their villainous tales about;

Of all the rascals under the sun

Who have come to punishment, never one

Belonged to the House of They.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

 

[BroadwayVa]

Ah, the digital, computerized world we live in. I'm sure we have all or almost all experienced something like this: You got to a retail website and look at an item, but move on without purchasing. You come to say the Boneyard (sans ad blocker) and low and behold the item in question is at the top of the page AND it's still there 2 weeks later. And the same thing is happening at all sorts of sites. I have my ad blocker off this AM and a windbreaker I looked at around Christmas time is still being pushed at me here and elsewhere. For websites that have your e-mail address you also get messages like "your item(s) still available".

You'd think that after a week or so they'd shove something else your way, no?

Way back subliminal advertisement was tried on broadcast tv---supposedly it drove your unconscious brain to buy what your conscious brain would not.
Now the omni present multiple presentation of things you saw and rejected--AD people apparently think are more stupid than their Dad's did--and they thought us REALLY stupid.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Have you heard of the terrible family They,

And the dreadful, venomous things They say?

Why, half the gossip under the sun,

If you trace it back, you will find begun

In that wretched House of They.

A numerous family, so I am told,

And its genealogical tree is old;

For ever since Adam and Eve began

To build up the curious race of man,

Has existed the House of They.

Gossip-mongers and spreaders of lies,

Horrid people whom all despise!

And yet the best of us now and then,

Repeat queer tales about women and men

And quote the House of They.

They live like lords, and never labor;

A They`s one task is to watch his neighbor,

And tell his business and private affairs

To the world at large; they are sowers of tares-

These folks in the House of They.

It is wholly useless to follow a They

With a whip or a gun, for he slips away

And into his house, where you cannot go;

It is locked and bolted and guarded so-

This horrible House of They.

Though you cannot get in, yet they got out,

And spread their villainous tales about;

Of all the rascals under the sun

Who have come to punishment, never one

Belonged to the House of They.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

As geneology goes --if we dig and feel and chose
The nasty truth of They isn't actually FREE]
AS it turns out--THEY is WE!!

 

[BroadwayVa]

Hmmm, right now I've got ads for starting a new website and for a dedicated server. I wonder if it thinks/knows the Mods are after me?

Artificial intelligence is getting more intelligent all the time. Not like the MIT SEPI days.

 

[Bama fan]

Have you heard of the terrible family They,

And the dreadful, venomous things They say?

Why, half the gossip under the sun,

If you trace it back, you will find begun

In that wretched House of They.

A numerous family, so I am told,

And its genealogical tree is old;

For ever since Adam and Eve began

To build up the curious race of man,

Has existed the House of They.

Gossip-mongers and spreaders of lies,

Horrid people whom all despise!

And yet the best of us now and then,

Repeat queer tales about women and men

And quote the House of They.

They live like lords, and never labor;

A They`s one task is to watch his neighbor,

And tell his business and private affairs

To the world at large; they are sowers of tares-

These folks in the House of They.

It is wholly useless to follow a They

With a whip or a gun, for he slips away

And into his house, where you cannot go;

It is locked and bolted and guarded so-

This horrible House of They.

Though you cannot get in, yet they got out,

And spread their villainous tales about;

Of all the rascals under the sun

Who have come to punishment, never one

Belonged to the House of They.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Another pearl! I am honored to be the recipient of the shared literary knowledge of the BY.

 

[Bama fan]

When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress
tells me gravely, "They do not make them so now," not emphasizing
the "They" at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as
the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply
because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so
rash. When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment
absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that
I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree
of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they
may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; and, finally, I am
inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more
emphasis of the "they" -- "It is true, they did not make them so
recently, but they do now."

-Walden

This is a slightly edited version of an journal entry, but it is Thoreau through and through. His sense of humor shines. I like his use of consanguinity which is just a fine word! I applaud your choice here,Connie.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

This is a slightly edited version of an journal entry, but it is Thoreau through and through. His sense of humor shines. I like his use of consanguinity which is just a fine word! I applaud your choice here,Connie.

I agree on consanguinity. English has lots of powerful, descriptive words that are dying away because anyone with a powerful vocabulary gets nailed as snotty or a snob. All part of the dumbing down of society.

 

[bags27]

I agree on consanguinity. English has lots of powerful, descriptive words that are dying away because anyone with a powerful vocabulary gets nailed as snotty or a snob. All part of the dumbing down of society.

yes, very sad.... I guess we need renewed patriotism and a brother-against-brother civil war (see the spike) to revive its use.

 

[Bama fan]

yes, very sad.... I guess we need renewed patriotism and a brother-against-brother civil war (see the spike) to revive its use.

View attachment 27999

I like your chart and appreciate that you took time to research the use of the word. However, I believe we are already inching too close to the "renewed patriotism and brother against brother war". I am sure that was not your wish, but rather the renewed appreciation of the word.