Impossible is nothing ?

Question

I heard this term and im struggling to understand it ?

*No i dont mean 'Nothing is impossible' its a different thing .

Answer 1

I think you're referring to this Adidas ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHmV0s3P...

Watch the video (with it's backward writing), and you'll understand.

Answer 2

if you think something is impossible, get a second opinion. you can be whatever you want (it depends on how much hard work you put into it)

Answer 3

according to dictionary.reference.com impossible means not possible; unable to be, exist, happen, etc. now do u understand.

Answer 4

Luke 1:37

For nothing is impossible with God.

Answer 5

I don't watch sports much, so seldom see their ads.  But your question intrigued me, so I went to youtube to see the ad..

It has done exactly what was intended--attract the attention of young people (like you) and, by challenging them to understand it, forced them to continue thinking of it.  Naturally, when this thinking is going on, you are also thinking of their product.  Such "mind control" is the whole purpose of advertising, and you have bought into it.

Please let me help you with your struggle to understand.  They are putting forward what many consider a perfectly valid assumption--that nothing is impossible--by a clever reversal of words, impossible is nothing.  The literal meaning of impossible is nothing is that ANYTHING can be accomplished; maybe not by everybody, but by somebody who is highly motivated and has managed to become highly qualified to do things which really are impossible for most people.  Once someone has accomplished something, it is no longer impossible.  

As salesmen, Adidas ad-writers are saying, "Don't YOU want to be that somebody who can do that seemingly impossible thing which everyone wishes that they could do, but they can't?  Well, you can be that person!  Just buy Adidas sports gear and you will be on your way to accomplishing the impossible."

Please do not struggle over this phrase--there are so many other, much more important issues which will draw upon your brain power.  This is just another sales pitch--a clever one, I grant, and apparently it has hit its mark.

And it is not entirely wrong, either, nor even original.  The poet, Robert Browning, wrote ..."a man's reach must exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?"  Same thing, just uses a bit more flowerly language.