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The slogan of a German radio provider (they offer stations from all over the world) is:

Radio your way

I think they mean it like the Burger King slogan

Have it your way

which means customize it to suit your needs.

But, if they really mean it that way isn't there a comma missing?

Radio, your way

Because without a comma I understand it like: I am on my way and I am constantly transmitting something (for example where I am going).

to radio sth. = to broadcast sth. on the radio

Please tell me if my thinking is completely off.

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  • Yes, a comma, or a dash, would conventionally be used there to show that your way is a supplemental phrase modifying the noun radio and that radio is not a verb analogous to "fight your way (through a crowd)" or some other possible meaning, such as you said, "signal your current location".
    – TimR
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:02
  • I understand it as make/fight your way in life with radio. I think it's not a matter of grammar or punctuation but instead of idioms and figures of speech.
    – Archa
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:02
  • @TRomano since you are a native speaker, I would consider that an answer :) Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:06
  • Off topic: is this question appropriate for this forum or would it suit "English language usage" better? Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:07
  • We have a punctuation tag so it's not off-topic here.
    – TimR
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:09

1 Answer 1

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Your way here is an adjectival modifying radio: it is postposed because it originated as a preposition phrase, in your way = "in the way you prefer", but the in has almost disappeared in contemporary English.

Radio your way is thus a nominal, equivalent to "Radio the way you like it".

Your way is a common advertising tag for food prepared to the customer's specifications ("steak your way", "pizza your way", "pasta your way") and for other customized goods and services ("luxury your way", "suits your way", "fitness your way").


The construction POSSESSIVE way is typically used as an adverbial--Frank Sinatra's song My Way, with each stanza closing "I did it my way*, is an example--and it could be argued that radio your way implies "We produce radio your way* = "we produce it in the manner you prefer us to produce it"; but I think even in that paraphrase your way is better understood as an object complement, and thus an adjectival.

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  • How can I know who to believe now? :( Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:46
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    I think @TRomano is speaking of formal use, where disambiguating nominal and verbal uses of radio would be desirable. But formal use is rarely a concern in advertising. Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:54
  • So, the slogan is so informal American English that a German misunderstands it? Poor advertising in Germany :( Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 14:58
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    Advertising often doesn't use standard grammar or usage if the advertiser thinks it sounds better a different way.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 15:31

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