h@te!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY h@te the overuse of "@".

I get severe heartburn (akin to when I hear timmy thomas' Dying Inside To Hold You, but that's a rant for another day) when I see it! So was superduper amused when I found someone had already written a diatribe on it. I particularly love his analogy about the 50 year old man - it really really hits the spot! :)

BadBranding@Singapore by Imagethief

"I keep thinking that the brand developers of Singapore will outgrow "@", and they keep disappointing me. I was scandalized five years ago when the glamorous, new office tower at Dhoby Ghaut was named "Atrium@Orchard". In 2006 using "@" in a brand is beyond unforgivable. It's the branding equivalent of a fifty-year old man with a pot-belly and severe male-pattern baldness growing a pony tail and getting his ears pierced in a futile attempt to stay youthfully hip. It reveals a failure to grasp contemporary style that is so final and absolute that it obliterates by definition the very sensibility that it was meant to create."