Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Although the term ASAP has been around for at least a half-century, Blackberry's slogan seems an illiterate incarnation. "ASAP" has degrees of rapidity of response? The logical inference from *as soon as possible* suggests that there is only one soonest possible time -- there can be no sooner than that desired response, and, thus, any time sooner is necessarily impossible. But whose idea of the "possible" prevails? How quickly do any of you respond to emails? Personally, I give myself 24 hours for business emails, but no more than that; within that time emails are taken in order of perceived importance (sad but true). Is that as soon as possible? Some clients might not think so. In sum, *as soon as possible* is abstract -- though it has a logical end--, and so "not ASAP enough" is saying that something fails to meet an abstract, movable end.

All that said, the slogan "not ASAP enough" makes sense from a marketing standpoint, illiterate though it may be. If "ASAP" is shorthand for "immediately", then what is better than "immediately"? Of course, something that provides you information faster than *as soon as possible*. What is faster than what is possible?

I think it struck me mostly because of the use of ASAP as a stand-alone adverb. Spelling it out, I would say "When 'as soon as possible' isn't soon enough." Perhaps this use of ASAP in both positions, signals that the status of ASAP has evolved, perhaps even achieving acceptance as a totally independent word, rather than an abbreviation.