Grammatical fine points and The Wizard of Oz

TidBITS Talk
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Not exactly on topic, for which I apologize. @ace, you write exceedingly well, and I love your comparison of Siri to the Scarecrow, so much so that I want to rescue that strong metaphor from the faulty grammar you used to describe it.

Like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz , Apple Intelligence will give Siri a brain.

The problem with this sentence is that the introductory clause (“Like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz,”) necessarily modifies the subject of the following independent clause (“Apple Intelligence”). Grammatically, this means that you are comparing the Scarecrow to Apple Intelligence … which of course is not what you mean. Rather, you mean to compare the Scarecrow to Siri, and also to compare The Wizard of Oz (the man himself) to Apple Intelligence. Isn’t that right? Does that make sense?

How could you properly make this comparison? There are several options, but it’s challenging to find one that is as concise and pleasing to the ear as yours. Here’s my best shot:

Like The Wizard of Oz to the Scarecrow, Apple Intelligence will give Siri a brain.

This might actually stretch some rules of grammar too, but all the “more-correct” versions I could think of were too long and sounded lame. (Also, note that I have de-italicized The Wizard of Oz to make it clear that I’m referring to the character, not the book or film.)

Honestly: If this metaphor and image were not so compelling and apt (Siri absolutely is brainless), and if your writing were not consistently so excellent, I would not have spent as much time thinking about this sentence and composing this message, which risks annoying you and other forum-goers who probably just want to talk about Features Coming to Apple’s Operating Systems in 2024. So, please take this message as a compliment, and feel free to do whatever you like with it (even if that means ignoring it).

I will ramble on a bit further in an attempt to return to the discussion at hand. After the Wizard (who is no wizard but rather a circus performer) gives the Scarecrow his brain (which is not a brain but rather “the honorary degree of ThD” aka “Doctor of Thinkology”), the Scarecrow recites a version of the Pythagorean Theorem that sounds smart but is, sadly, quite wrong. (Regardless, he next exclaims: “Oh joy! Rapture! I’ve got a brain!”) So perhaps this metaphor will prove even more apt than we wish … I guess we will see, in beta this fall!

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Hah! Yes, you’re absolutely right that it’s a rather strained grammatical construct. I was writing very quickly during a very long day.

In my defense, I think I would suggest that by “the Scarecrow” I didn’t mean the actual character, but the entire scenario surrounding the Scarecrow (that he’s traveling to the Emerald City with Dorothy to get a brain). That’s difficult to express concisely, of course, so I opted for assuming that readers would know the Scarecrow’s situation and mentally fill in the rest. The best alternative I can think of right now that maintains the concise nature of the line is merely swapping “like” (which sets up a tight comparison) for “as with” (which feels broader to me):

As with the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Apple Intelligence will give Siri a brain.

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Thanks for your reply and for humoring this discussion! Your explanation (ie, that you are referencing “the entire scenario surrounding the Scarecrow”) makes perfect sense, and your edit in light of this (changing “like” to “as with”) is excellent, and a better revision than the one I suggested.

Pivoting slightly toward the topic at hand: I had several conversations with ChatGPT and Gemini about the sentence in question. They were moderately helpful in clarifying the grammar (though one called it an issue of “parallel construction” which I don’t entirely agree with). And their suggestions were far too awkward (for example: “In the way The Wizard of Oz gave a brain to the Scarecrow, Apple Intelligence will give Siri a brain.”) To me, this shows a lack of creativity/flexibility (in terms of the message and the grammar), which I think both you and I used in our rewritings of the sentence. Will be interested to see how Apple’s new Writing Tools turn out!

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Oh yeah, you won’t find fluidity of language in much of anything from a chatbot. Perfectly good, pedestrian text, but getting to the really good stuff often requires bending or breaking rules.

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Of course, if you know the context, you’ll also know that the Wizard was a con man and he didn’t actually do anything.

In the movie, he points out that there are hundreds of successful people that don’t have any brains either, but they have diplomas - and gives one to the scarecrow.

In the book (and in the Muppet production), the Wizard ignores the letter “i” in “brain” and fills the scarecrow’s head with bran:

I hope Apple’s addition to Siri works better than these two productions. :smiley:

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And now we’re really off the rails.

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That we are, and as much as this has been a lovely segue, let’s hope that the Wizards of Cupertino are more legitimately successful with Siri. :slight_smile:

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