I just saw one of the smartest, sneakiest uses of the English language ever!
My wife was looking through eBay, trying to find out what sorts of things are selling these days, and lo and behold, on the “Pulse of eBay” she found This auction: 2 Cardboard Boxes – Yes, our hero, the auctioneer, had gotten an auction for 2 empty cardboard boxes into the top most-watched items on eBay. Better than that, they were selling for $610 when last we looked.
Even more intriguing, a prominent Quicktime logo was displayed halfway down the page, with a link that said “Click here to watch this auction.” Well, how could we resist?!
Here’s the beauty of the ambiguity of English: it didn’t mean to “watch a movie of the auction” it meant to “set this auction as one I’m watching” – hence everyone who clicked on it increased his number of watchers until it was at the top of the pulse.
Brilliant! I hope he gets his $610!