Tops knives are alright, but they do tend to go a little overboard in gearing their marketing towards mall ninjas. Most "operators" aren't really concerned with how many other "operators" were involved in the production of a knife. That marketing isn't geared towards those who will actually use the knife in the way they're marketing it, but rather towards the 12 year old which resides in all of us and makes us buy questionable but shiny things. In my experience, most of the guys I served with bought kind of crappy knives for the most part, with a few exceptions. I don't know where I'm going with that, but there it is.
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Dear TOPS Knives, Please hire someone who knows English to describe your products.
- Thread starter retzius
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Sorry, I have to respectfully disagree with this point. There's a degree of professionalism involved here. If a company can't be bothered to write and post grammatically correct descriptions of their products, how much faith can one have in the products themselves? If you looked at those descriptions knowing nothing at all about the company, could you honestly say that they have pride in the manufacture and sales of their products?
I certainly couldn't make that claim.
However, my views on the subject may be colored by the fact that every TOPS knife I've owned (and I've owned three) had fit and finish issues. These ranged from the relatively minor such as uneven grind lines to the serious, like a TOPS Key B Neck Knife that had such poor sheath retention that the knife actually fell out while I was wearing it and nearly went through my foot.
I don't have a college degree, but I run my own business. Communication and professionalism are of the utmost importance.
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OP, while I understand your point here, this is probably something that's not limited to just TOPS. Several knife makers and retailers are bad at copy and grammar. I used to feel that these guys needed to shape up too to be more professional and all that. However, the more I've hung around Bladeforums and gotten to know more knife companies, custom makers, knife retailers, and so on, the more I've come to appreciate their charm. Take this for example:
You wouldn't find most big companies these days doing that, but I've come to realize that that's great here. These guys in the knife community are pretty straightforward and personal, and they don't try to misrepresent themselves, because they aren't corporations. For that reason, I love Bill Akers' work and he's a great guy. Took the time to go over every detail of a custom knife order I had, and he still found enough pride of his workmanship to make other suggestions so that he could make a knife that he'd also like. Doesn't write perfect English, but he speaks fine and he's great to talk to.
Not to say that TOPS is that same way, but I do appreciate the transparency and lack of an "official representative" to make sure everything is presentable and not damning or self-incriminating. They just are who they are. For the most part, they're pretty fun, even if cheesy.
You wouldn't find most big companies these days doing that, but I've come to realize that that's great here. These guys in the knife community are pretty straightforward and personal, and they don't try to misrepresent themselves, because they aren't corporations. For that reason, I love Bill Akers' work and he's a great guy. Took the time to go over every detail of a custom knife order I had, and he still found enough pride of his workmanship to make other suggestions so that he could make a knife that he'd also like. Doesn't write perfect English, but he speaks fine and he's great to talk to.
Not to say that TOPS is that same way, but I do appreciate the transparency and lack of an "official representative" to make sure everything is presentable and not damning or self-incriminating. They just are who they are. For the most part, they're pretty fun, even if cheesy.
justsomedude
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Here is my issue with the TOPS Knives marketing: borderline plagiarism.
Example:
Here are a couple lines from the description of the FDX shark heat on the TOPS website , "Sharks have been around for over 420 million years, and estimates are that their are about 440 different spieces. The shark (superiorsela chimorpha) has a highly streamlined body, with a full cartilaginous skeleton. Generally the well known species are considered apex preditors on the top of the underwater food chain."
Now here are a few lines from the Wikipedia.org page for "shark": "Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago.[1] Since that time, sharks have diversified into 440 species."
"Well-known species such as the great white shark, tiger shark, blue shark, mako shark, and the hammerhead shark are apex predatorsorganisms at the top of their underwater food chain."
Now I understand a knife company not wanting to shell out the money to keep a full-time marketing department/position, but TOPS seems like too big a company, and their site is just a little too professional, for me to believe there is not at least one person being paid just to make these advertisements. A professional in marketing should not just use proper grammar, but be creative, eloquent, and original; and if they are going to paraphrase the words of somebody else they should be citing their sources.
When I first started reading this thread I did not think the marketing strategies of a knife company would be a deciding factor to not buy their products, but upon investigation I find their advertising to be so unprofessional as to sour me completely. If anybody at TOPS is reading this and wants a replacement for their head of marketing, I will consider relocating dependent upon salary and benefits. :friendly_wink:
Example:
Here are a couple lines from the description of the FDX shark heat on the TOPS website , "Sharks have been around for over 420 million years, and estimates are that their are about 440 different spieces. The shark (superiorsela chimorpha) has a highly streamlined body, with a full cartilaginous skeleton. Generally the well known species are considered apex preditors on the top of the underwater food chain."
Now here are a few lines from the Wikipedia.org page for "shark": "Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago.[1] Since that time, sharks have diversified into 440 species."
"Well-known species such as the great white shark, tiger shark, blue shark, mako shark, and the hammerhead shark are apex predatorsorganisms at the top of their underwater food chain."
Now I understand a knife company not wanting to shell out the money to keep a full-time marketing department/position, but TOPS seems like too big a company, and their site is just a little too professional, for me to believe there is not at least one person being paid just to make these advertisements. A professional in marketing should not just use proper grammar, but be creative, eloquent, and original; and if they are going to paraphrase the words of somebody else they should be citing their sources.
When I first started reading this thread I did not think the marketing strategies of a knife company would be a deciding factor to not buy their products, but upon investigation I find their advertising to be so unprofessional as to sour me completely. If anybody at TOPS is reading this and wants a replacement for their head of marketing, I will consider relocating dependent upon salary and benefits. :friendly_wink:
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I am with retzius on this one. The whole "it's okay to be ignorant" or "it's okay to be last place" is what's dumbing down the human race. Tweets, Facebook updates, message board posts, etc. are meant to be written quickly, but should still show effort in proper grammar. A product description on a website can be checked by several people and/or utilities prior to being posted, there is no excuse for grammatical errors.
For example, at my current job, I am an engineer for a monitoring product. My job does not require an English degree, however, when I am communicating with customers or sending out a company email, I make sure every little thing is correct. When a customer is trying to pick apart my product, I cannot give him any excuse to discount my words. If those words are written in broken English, I might as well pack my things and leave.
When I was in elementary school, grammar such as that found on the TOPS website was frowned upon by teachers. Are these the kinds of mistakes that we can expect from high school students now days? This has nothing to do with college, we are talking about basic grammar skills here. English not being your first language is no excuse either. If you are producing written material in broken English, you are failing at your job, period.
And when did it become a bad thing to be a critical consumer? Just because you like a certain brand doesn't mean you have to defend every mistake they make. If anything, a proper product description would be a lot easier to produce than a proper heat treatment on a blade. Why not get everything right so no one can say anything negative about your company? If I had a stake in TOPS, I wouldn't allow grammar mistakes on the website.
People are too sensitive now days and make every excuse under the sun to defend sub-par results. I do not own a TOPS knife and may never own one, however, the points being argued above go way beyond a single knife company.
For example, at my current job, I am an engineer for a monitoring product. My job does not require an English degree, however, when I am communicating with customers or sending out a company email, I make sure every little thing is correct. When a customer is trying to pick apart my product, I cannot give him any excuse to discount my words. If those words are written in broken English, I might as well pack my things and leave.
When I was in elementary school, grammar such as that found on the TOPS website was frowned upon by teachers. Are these the kinds of mistakes that we can expect from high school students now days? This has nothing to do with college, we are talking about basic grammar skills here. English not being your first language is no excuse either. If you are producing written material in broken English, you are failing at your job, period.
And when did it become a bad thing to be a critical consumer? Just because you like a certain brand doesn't mean you have to defend every mistake they make. If anything, a proper product description would be a lot easier to produce than a proper heat treatment on a blade. Why not get everything right so no one can say anything negative about your company? If I had a stake in TOPS, I wouldn't allow grammar mistakes on the website.
People are too sensitive now days and make every excuse under the sun to defend sub-par results. I do not own a TOPS knife and may never own one, however, the points being argued above go way beyond a single knife company.
Here's an analogy: Dark Ops knives has been unmercifully criticized on these forums for their over-the-top advertising copy. Yet many here happily give Tops a break. I'm talking advertising language, not knife quality.
"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised." - Count Leo Tolstoy
"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised." - Count Leo Tolstoy
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Damn this thread has some good comments giving me a good laugh.
All I can say is people need to read more quality books and watch less TV IMO.
Many younger people barely know how to read properly and aloud.
Personally, I don't like that a company has such poor grammar in a description. Proper sentence construction, tenses etc should be covered in all basic educational systems and reading books can only improve that. To this day if I read a book and don't understand the meaning I use a dictionary. I learned that from my grandfather and he did that till he passed away.
Personal pride and personal education.
Even if TOPS uses SF to desing the knives or make them, to my knowledge they still have to be able to read maps, write reports, do calculations.
All I can say is people need to read more quality books and watch less TV IMO.
Many younger people barely know how to read properly and aloud.
Personally, I don't like that a company has such poor grammar in a description. Proper sentence construction, tenses etc should be covered in all basic educational systems and reading books can only improve that. To this day if I read a book and don't understand the meaning I use a dictionary. I learned that from my grandfather and he did that till he passed away.
Personal pride and personal education.
Even if TOPS uses SF to desing the knives or make them, to my knowledge they still have to be able to read maps, write reports, do calculations.
I find it really sad that so many companies won't hire the unemployed English major graduates to write or proofread product descriptions. It wouldn't cost them much and then no one could complain that the descriptions have poor grammar. I find it annoying to read through product descriptions that are full of obvious grammatical errors. If people get defensive because they make grammatical mistakes and someone wants to correct them then that's their own issue. There's nothing wrong with people having poor grammar in daily speech. Commercial or professional writing should be perfect or very close to it. Hiring some unemployed English majors would solve the grammatical problems and also have the benefit of improving the economy 
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Good lord man! Think of how much crap they'd write on their blades if they DID have an english major working for them!!!
Though I agree. A spelling error here and there or a comma out of place is one thing. Total sentence breakdown makes me leary of a company. Just like a dirty bathroom makes me leary of restaraunt. It demonstrates to me what level of pride the company has in itself.
Though I agree. A spelling error here and there or a comma out of place is one thing. Total sentence breakdown makes me leary of a company. Just like a dirty bathroom makes me leary of restaraunt. It demonstrates to me what level of pride the company has in itself.
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justsomedude
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I find it really sad that so many companies won't hire the unemployed English major graduates to write or proofread product descriptions. It wouldn't cost them much and then no one could complain that the descriptions have poor grammar. I find it annoying to read through product descriptions that are full of obvious grammatical errors. If people get defensive because they make grammatical mistakes and someone wants to correct them then that's their own issue. There's nothing wrong with people having poor grammar in daily speech. Commercial or professional writing should be perfect or very close to it. Hiring some unemployed English majors would solve the grammatical problems and also have the benefit of improving the economy
Yes, please give me a job! I promise I will do a much better job selling knives than whoever is working at TOPS, not that I even want to make that comparison.
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now thats just funny
Good lord man! Think of how much crap they'd write on their blades if they DID have an english major working for them!!!
Though I agree. A spelling error here and there or a comma out of place is one thing. Total sentence breakdown makes me leary of a company. Just like a dirty bathroom makes me leary of restaraunt. It demonstrates to me what level of pride the company has in itself.
I feel the same way. If I go somewhere and the place is a mess, it tells a lot about the business. Restaurants with a dirty bathroom, dirty floors, etc. show that the people in charge or the people working there don't care, which is never good when it comes to food prepared there. If I see a website that's full of grammatical errors it makes me not want to buy their products. When it comes to knives writing about them should be the easiest part of the process.
I have an English degree and would love to write about knives. I'm constantly picking out grammatical and spelling errors whenever I read things. Like the sushi restaurant whose menu I read online. The restaurant said it would appeal to anyone's pallet. Unfortunately I don't have a pallet. I was hoping they would appeal to my palate.
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justsomedude
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Best comment yet! A bit of comedy and very good points. I do not own any TOPS knives and now I know why.Good lord man! Think of how much crap they'd write on their blades if they DID have an english major working for them!!!
Though I agree. A spelling error here and there or a comma out of place is one thing. Total sentence breakdown makes me leary of a company. Just like a dirty bathroom makes me leary of restaraunt. It demonstrates to me what level of pride the company has in itself.
meako
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I agree. I believe that many Chinese schoolchildren would outshine many of their Aussie/Anglo counterparts in the grammar stakes.
TOPS could be using the newspeak sloppy English as a clever marketing ploy aimed those among us who think its "kewl".
Why do they need an unemployed English graduate( one can only imagine the reason for their state of unemployment)
when primary/elementary school level grammar
should be able to cope with this easy task?
One more thing regarding the Sushi pallets. Could they be offering bulk purchases of the Sushi?
A couple of other thoughts just came to mind.
TOPS could be using the newspeak sloppy English as a clever marketing ploy aimed those among us who think its "kewl".
Why do they need an unemployed English graduate( one can only imagine the reason for their state of unemployment)
when primary/elementary school level grammar
should be able to cope with this easy task?
One more thing regarding the Sushi pallets. Could they be offering bulk purchases of the Sushi?
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