LEGO® Bricks, Logically
March 8th, 2006In my logic class today the professor was illustrating the point that the final conclusion in a mapped argument may not be the main point of the argument. As an illustrative example he related the following scenario.
Imagine that I am building a wall out of LEGO® bricks. I want to make the wall as tall as possible, but it’s still on its side on the ground. I want to add more LEGO® bricks to it, so I ask my friend if she’s done with her LEGO® bricks yet. She says she is done with her LEGO® bricks and that I may use them. Where do I put the LEGO® bricks in order to make the wall taller? You can put the LEGO® bricks at the top or the bottom of the wall. It doesn’t matter, it still makes the wall taller.
I was impressed that he followed the instruction on the back page of the LEGO Company Profile. The 2004 and 2005 versions, and possibly other oversions, include the following recommendations:
Using the LEGO brand name
Help us to protect our brand name:
- The LEGO brand name should always be written in capital letters.
- LEGO must never be used as a generic term or in the plural or as a possessive pronoun, e.g. “LEGO’sâ€.
- When the LEGO brand name is used as part of a noun, it must never appear on its own. It should always be accompanied by a noun. For example, LEGO set, LEGO products, LEGO Group, LEGO play materials, LEGO bricks, LEGO universe, etc.
- The first time the LEGO trademark appears in a headline and in the following text it should be accompanied by the registration symbol ®.
Thank you for helping us!
As it turns out, he had no idea that there were any such recommendations and seemed quite amused that he was “being a good guy and didn’t even know it.” Speaking like that seems so unnatural to me that I was relatively certain that he was doing it on purpose as a result of something he had been taught. LEGO® would have been pleased to know that such brand name usage advocacy is being demonstated in an academic setting.