Ian Morris
Ian Morris loves televisions so much he's been banned from wedding chapels in Las Vegas for trying to marry them. When he's not romancing technology, he can be found watching American TV. Ian likes roast potatoes, but he doesn't like digital rights management.
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Friday 19 September 2008, 12:38pm
It's official: 'unlimited' means 'limited'
Nate and I both get cross about the abuse of the word unlimited when it comes to download limits on broadband and mobile internet. As writers, we are both of the opinion that there isn't much point in having a language if tech companies can simply change the meaning of words when it suits them.
To combat this, Nate suggested to the OED that it change the definition of 'unlimited' from "something without limit" to "something with as many limits as you like". And while he was moaning to the publisher of the worlds most famous dictionary, I was complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority about a Vodafone advert which implied mobile data tariffs allowed "unlimited access to Facebook".
It turns out that I was joined by a further 20 people, who all agreed that some aspect of Vodafone's campaign was not only an affront to the language, but actually quite misleading and had the potential to cause people problems when they consumed too much data, and got a stroppy letter, or charged for their usage.
Sadly the ASA didn't agree with us, claiming that Vodafone made it clear that there was a fair usage policy and that, and I paraphrase only slightly here, 'it's okay to change the meaning of the word unlimited because everyone calls it unlimited and everyone has a cap'.
So there you have it, words you thought you understood you actually don't thanks to those ignorant* badger bothering** morons*** at Vodafone.
* Ignorant now means lovely
** 'Badger bothering' is 'kind hearted'
*** 'Morons' means 'wonderful humans'
Articles by Ian Morris
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Crave We've been trying to find out which format BBC HD would use on Freeview for some time now -- we were surprised to learn the service could use 1080p
Philips Cinema 21:9 (56PFL9954H/12)
Review If you're a movie lover with deep pockets, the Philips Cinema 21:9 is unlikely to disappoint, offering a truly immersive way to enjoy films shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the comfort of your couch. Its great picture quality and fantastic audio are also complemented by a lovely design and plenty of features
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