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Friday, September 01, 2006

$0 joining fees

I was walking past a gym on my way to work today (the prevalence of which will be the topic of a future post, believe me), and there were a number of signs in front of the building: "Join today -- no joining fee!" read one, while another said: "Join today and pay a $0 joining fee."
Besides the fact that it is pretty much ridiculous that I would surrender any money to pay for the privilege of sweating, I was plunged into deep thought by these signs -- they're not really the same thing, are they?
"No joining fee" means that there is no charge for the transaction. There is "no fee" for breathing in air -- this doesn't mean it's free (even though it is), but, technically, it means that no economic transaction is actually taking place. A "$0 joining fee", on the other hand, would imply that there is a transaction of some form occurring; it's just that, in this case, the amount of money transferred is zero.
Anybody agree with me?

posted by Kieren @ 9:15 am  

9 Comments:

  • At 3:52 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    does anyone really care?

     

  • At 3:59 pm, Blogger Kieren said…

    Yes, Daniel, anyone cares.

    Specifically, I care. If standards start slipping, the only way to go is down, and the only place we'll stop is at rock-bottom.

     

  • At 5:11 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    But, whatever the inelegance of the language, you know what the sign means. EVERYONE knows what the sign means. Score 1 for the advertising executives.

     

  • At 12:46 am, Blogger Kieren said…

    That's your rationale for whether a snippet of language is valid or not, is it? "Oh, I understand what it's supposed to mean."

    By that reasoning, why don't we eradicate the apostrophe? Everybody's got a vague idea of the principle behind the thing. How about the distinction between "imply" and "infer"? What about question marks? We all know when someone's asking a question.

    Don't we?

    Try that in a specialised field, and see how long you last. "Did I say torque? Oh, I meant tension." My point, of course, is that general discourse is just as specialised. Or, at least, it should be.

     

  • At 10:17 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ahem. Now you're misrepresenting me. My point is, it is effective advertising -- and that is the sole function of that sign. Respecting the English language is not a priority.

    I probably wouldn't encourage it, but I don't think it irks me as much as it does you.

     

  • At 10:30 am, Blogger Kieren said…

    How is effective advertising different from effective communication through the written word in other contexts?

    What if the sign had said "Free membership's today?" I still know what they're offering me.

    My point is that the sign could have been just as effective if it said "$0 joining fee" or "No joining fee." The fact that they had both was what caused the inconsistency.

     

  • At 11:24 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I understand and understood your point, but of course different rules apply to effective advertising than normal effective communication. "$0 joining fee" works much better than "No joining fee".

     

  • At 11:48 am, Blogger Kieren said…

    Okay -- if we can accept that, then why put them both on the shopfront?

    A zero-dollar joining fee is silly, but I can understand what it means. Having the two contrasting signs side-by-side was my problem in the first place.

    (Interestingly, the day before, that *was* all it said -- "$0 Joining Fee". It was only the following morning, on my way to work, that I noticed the additional sign. So somebody must have been confused.)

     

  • At 10:19 am, Blogger Kieren said…

    It's wonderful when we can all be friends.

     

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