Technology

Telkom takes readers for idiots

We might, says Telkom, find it strange that it offers a range of “broadband” products, the potential of which it is not entirely clear.

01 September 2005

Cor blimey!

The only word in the Arthur C Clarke quotation that rings true is “laughably”. Em-blazoned over a large centre-spread photograph that not quite resembles the Orion Nebula, the words are cut for quality. After all, Clarke wasn`t a very good writer in 1951, when he wrote in The Exploration of Space, “If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run – and often in the short one – the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.”

Telkom omits the long-run, short-run bit so as not to divert attention from the humour printed in smaller print beneath the quote. Understandably so, since the spread in the Sunday Times must have cost half a million. Wouldn`t want to waste it.

ITWeb Premium

Get 3 months of unlimited access
No credit card. No obligation.

Already a subscriber Log in