Subway Responded to Charges That Their Footlong Is Only 11 Inches, and It's a P.R. Nightmare
1/21/2013
We heard on Thursday how people around the world are measuring their Subway footlong subs and posting photos online, showing that they're ONLY 11 inches long. At the time, Subway hadn't commented on the controversy. But they did over the weekend, with a statement that's a P.R. NIGHTMARE.
First, they responded to the person in Australia who posted the first photo. They admitted that the sub was, "slightly undersized" and blamed it on the bread not being baked to their standards. That ignores EVERYONE ELSE who has posted photos of 11-inch subs. So Subway ALSO said, "FOOTLONG is a registered trademark as a descriptive name, and not intended to be a measurement of length."
That's right: They have no idea why you would expect a Subway footlong to be a foot long.
(Gawker)
Six Other Things With Names That Don't Describe What They Really Are
Subway has released a statement declaring that their footlong subs are only 11 inches long, because "footlong" isn't supposed to be a measurement of length. Which sounds ridiculous, but here are six OTHER things with names that don't describe what they really are:
#1.) If you buy a TWO-BY-FOUR at the lumber store, it's not really two inches by four inches, it's one-and-a-half inches by three-and-a-half inches.
#2.) PEANUTS aren't really nuts, they're legumes.
#3.) A KOALA BEAR isn't a bear, it's a marsupial, like a kangaroo.
#4.) A STARFISH isn't a fish, it's something called an echinoderm.
#5.) A PALM TREE isn't actually a tree. It's a type of grass.
#6.) And if you have SWOLLEN GLANDS, your glands aren't swollen, your lymph nodes are.
(NPR)