The Magritte laser-etched Apple

Ceci n'est pas un PowerBook.

[Via Make: Blog]

[icon @ Jun 29th 2006 3:30AM]

put it like this guys:
"ceci n'est pas UN Powerbook"

and you'll be correct, frenchwise...
I just want to make you better you know...

[Julien Oster @ Jun 29th 2006 3:34AM]

I'm pretty sure it's "un PowerBook", unless this one's a female PowerBook. Which isn't all that absurd, it's having a picture of a man tatooed on it after all.

[Julien Oster @ Jun 29th 2006 3:35AM]

oh, sorry icon, you're comment wasn't showing up yet when I wrote mine.

[LordFarkward @ Jun 29th 2006 3:47AM]

it should be "un powerbook"

oh oops u guys have already said it

[icon @ Jun 29th 2006 3:51AM]

No worries Julien, we're just here to remind them of how things go in this world.

oh and Engadget, give me one of these MacBook Pros by the way, laser etched or not. You could even get it some B. Gates' laughing face on it, i'd still take it you know, and you'd have another post...

[Namarrgon @ Jun 29th 2006 4:09AM]

Just FYI, there's a famous Magritte painting entitled "Ceci n'est pas une pomme":
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/images/magritte2.jpg

[Henry @ Jun 29th 2006 4:27AM]

Reminds me of the cover of an Erik Satie album.

[splintax @ Jun 29th 2006 7:00AM]

I'm pretty sure it's a reference to Magritte's "The Son Of Man", not "Ceci n'est pas une pomme" ("this is not an apple").

[kevin @ Jun 29th 2006 7:39AM]

not that i want to dwell on this, but "une" is actually being used correctly here, as its referring to the product in question (une machine) instead of the title of the laptop. same as calling a ford car "une" ford, referring to une voiture...

[Yannick @ Jun 29th 2006 8:03AM]

Kevin, I understand... except I usually say "un Powerbook" referring to "un ordinateur" (a computer) or "un portable" (a laptop).
Anyway "une machine" sounds good too, so we could say there's no mistakes.

[dan @ Jun 29th 2006 8:13AM]

To settle this dispute over gender...browsing through apple.fr, Apple appears to use the masculine article, i.e. un MacBook. I would assume the same applies to a PowerBook. Take a look on this page -- http://www.apple.com/fr/macbookpro/

[Joe @ Jun 29th 2006 8:14AM]

The pipe and the apple in the original Margritte images are from a series called "The Treachery of Images", originally meant to emphasize the arbitrary nature of words and their meanings.

A little bit of useless add-on information from a mass communications major...

[Marc @ Jun 29th 2006 8:34AM]

Truly inspired! Almost makes me want a PowerBook. What's next? The American Standard Duchamp model? Man Ray eyedrops? Sweet!

[Patrick @ Jun 29th 2006 8:47AM]

Actually folks, the best example of this, that sprang immediately to mind for me, was the famous "This is not a pipe" painting...

Ceci n'est pas une pipe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magritte

Which, if I get the Magritte-sporting Mac, may be why they went with "une" instead of "un".

[chenry @ Jun 29th 2006 9:08AM]

This is quite possibly the greatest thing i have seen all day.

[Chris Barker @ Jun 29th 2006 9:41AM]

This is actually very inspired. Margritte, if remember correctly had a day job in advertising. Somehow, I think he would approve.

[tammi @ Jun 29th 2006 10:27AM]

My MacBook is a really hot female.

[Mickey @ Jun 29th 2006 10:43AM]

computer it une ordinatuer, and more generic is a machine or appliance both of which are feminine, and this is absolutely a reference to son of man. Thomas Crown Affair anyone?

[Mickey @ Jun 29th 2006 10:45AM]

and p.s. un portable is a cell phone

[cycomachead @ Jun 29th 2006 10:58AM]

cool if only they did it for a MacBook

[HankMcCoyX @ Jun 29th 2006 11:38AM]

Actually it should be un PowerBook because in French, any time a non French noun is used, it is always masculine, like un pizza or le pizza.

[Craig @ Jun 29th 2006 12:30PM]

This looks cool, though if one day you woke up and wanted to change it - you couldn't. I'd prob stick with stickers...

[Rich @ Jun 29th 2006 12:46PM]

What's that sound? ...it almost sounds like 1,000,000 Mac-heads exclaiming "why didn't I think of that?"

[borg @ Jun 29th 2006 1:19PM]

good theory, hank, but its une pizza

[rutsy5 @ Jun 29th 2006 1:20PM]

Hahah this is great. I think i hear that too, Rich.
I don't understand why it's being compared to
Ceci n'est pas une pipe and Ceci n'est pas une pomme, when its quite clearly referring to this even more famous painting, http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~timothyv/images/magritte.jpg
as i am sure (hoping) most of you knew, such as Splintax...
however, yes the comparison makes sense in reference to the title given by one commentator on the blog of origin.

[borg @ Jun 29th 2006 1:21PM]

good theory, hang, except its une pizza

[gus @ Jun 29th 2006 1:34PM]

Wow--a bunch of language geeks on a tech forum! What a wonderful day!

[Bertrand @ Jun 29th 2006 1:56PM]

Interesting... My wife's iPod is engraven with "This is not an apple".

[Pete Avila @ Jun 29th 2006 2:07PM]

I wish I had an apple for a face!

[HankMcCoyX @ Jun 29th 2006 3:05PM]

I believe I used the wrong example with pizza, as you are correct borg, pizza is indeed feminine in French, perhaps it was adopted into the language? But the rule for adding any new word into the French language that is not translated into French is to make it masculine.

[trevor @ Jun 29th 2006 4:58PM]

But it IS a powerbook....the irony has been lost upon us.

[Sebastien @ Jun 30th 2006 3:08AM]

To HankMcCoyX:
Well what about - une video, une television, une serie, ... well no specific rule - It really depends on how it sounds.

Ceci n'est pas une langue facile (!).

[Jeffrey Schrab @ Jun 30th 2006 9:17AM]

No, actually it's NOT a Powerbook. It's a picture of a Powerbook, thus The Treachery Of Images (La trahison des images) ^_^

[Laser engraver @ Jul 2nd 2006 9:14AM]

Wonderful example of artistical applications of this laser engraving technique.

[Kelly @ Jul 21st 2006 7:03PM]

Actually, it's many bursts of light racing across a computer monitor in such a way as to simulate a picture of a PowerBook.

Oh, wait, no, the word I was thinking of was *awesome*.

[Holly @ Aug 3rd 2006 11:26PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man

THERE's your explanation.