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In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Allan Bedford writes:
> > In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Derek Raycraft writes:
> > > Allan Bedford wrote:
> > > I think the clarifying statement that Lego has made about this number is
> > > actually confusing the issue.
> > >
> > > "Pieces sold on LEGOshop.com since Nov. 1, 2002!"
> > >
> > > "Piece count reflects individual pieces sold and not complete sets"
> > >
> > > I took this to mean they were adding up the pieces, Lego Elements, in
> > > every set they sold. The term "piece" is often used to indicate a
> > > single item that is for sale. "We sold 50 pieces of that item." Under
> > > this interpretation a piece would be a set because that is the item for
> > > sale. So I think they are trying to differentiate between "piece" the
> > > set, and "piece" the Lego element with this disclaimer.
> >
> > Well why didn't they *say* that then. :)
>
> I totally agree with you. I think it's not very well worded and can be
> interpreted several ways. Whether that was deliberate so that readers would
> read in what they wanted to... who can say. One would hope not, eh?
I'm leaning more towards the idea that it wasn't a deliberate attempt to
deceive. There's really no reason to inflate sales figures to the public...
the boss always knows. :)
But while doing the dishes tonight I got thinking about this again. And I'm
going back to some of what I said before. 50,000,000 bricks is still
50,000,000 bricks, whether they are sold as 'bulk bricks' or as part of a
set. If I buy 50 roof bricks, or a Harry Potter set with 50 pieces in it,
it's still all LEGO bricks being sold via Shop At Home. I realize that not
all 50,000,000 of those bricks were sold as bulk packs, but hopefully the
percentage is climbing. All in all it still represents good things happening
for this part of the company.
Now we have to keep in mind that this is November. You'd expect sales to be
high at this time of year. Will December match these numbers? That will be
interesting. But what will be more telling will be January's numbers. Will
the fact that LEGO does product releases throughout the year help to
maintain strong numbers through Shop At Home? Let's hope.
> > O.K. I guess I was reading into the statement only what I wanted it to mean,
> > rather than what it might really mean. But it does point out how tricky
> > semantics can be.
> >
> > What I thought it meant was, "this is the total number of individual pieces
> > sold (i.e. bulk bricks) and this number does not include pieces that are
> > part of complete sets."
> >
> > When really what they mean to say is, "this is the total number of bricks we
> > have sold overall, including bulk bricks and individual pieces that comprise
> > complete sets. It does not represent the number of sets sold."
> >
> > Clarity is a wonderful thing... though often difficult to obtain with the
> > English language.
>
> Agreed. One wonders if perhaps the writer wasn't a native English speaker?
> Some of the stuff on the site does sometimes have a bit of an unusual turn
> of phrase, eh?
I guess I was thinking more of the little pitfalls that English creates even
for those who claim to have spoken it since birth. There is a book by Bill
Bryson that always comes to mind in situations like this. It's called 'The
Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way'. He writes about English
spelling, grammar, words and their history. He asks classic questions like,
"why does four have a 'u' in it and forty doesn't?"
And with that, I'll close before I swing this thread WAY off topic.
All the best!
Allan B.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Brick Counter
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| (...) I totally agree with you. I think it's not very well worded and can be interpreted several ways. Whether that was deliberate so that readers would read in what they wanted to... who can say. One would hope not, eh? (...) Agreed. One wonders if (...) (22 years ago, 30-Nov-02, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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