"Recently, butter has been replaced by margarine in Happy Pancake House restaurants throughout the southwestern United States. This change, however, has had little impact on our customers. In fact, only about 2 percent of customers have complained, indica

The author's argument that customers do not distinguish butter from margarine or they use the same term butter to refer both, seems to be logical at the first glance. The author's conclusion could be correct if its premises were to be true. However, in arriving at his conclusion the author has not examined the alternative explanations which could account for the facts on which his conclusion is based.

Firstly, the author has assumed that the customers do not know the difference between butter and margarine or use the term butter for both, primarily based on two observations. First, only two percent of customers complained when butter was replaced by margarine in Happy Pancake House throughout the southwestern United States. Second, many servers have reported that many customers asking for butter do not complain when they are given margarine instead.

Here, the author has failed to consider the fact that people may have reasons for preferring margarine. For example, margarine's taste, texture and flavour may be very similar or even better than butter. Margarine may be easier to use for cooking and consuming purposes than butter. There may be health based reasons like the fat content and calorie content of margarine may be less than that of butter. There may a number of people who may have switched to margarine from butter and may be asking for margarine instead of butter. However, the author has not examined any of these anlternative possibilities while arriving at his conclusion. If the author were to provide some specific evidence to show that people are ignorant regarding margarine, it would certainly support his argument.

Moreover, the author has not provided any specific time period in which the observations were recorded. He has neither provided the period of time for which the Pancake House restaurants have switched to margarine nor the time period for which the servers have been giving margarine to customers when asked for butter. If this period were to be very small the people may actually be unaware and may not be able to distinguish margarine from butter. However if the time period is large, then the people may have accepted margarine as a suitable alternative for butter. The author has himself quoted that 2% of people have complained against the use of margarine in Happy Pancake House restaurants. This quotation in the absence of any other supporting evidence can be used to eefute the author's claim that customers do not distinguish butter from margarine. If the author were to provide specific evidnce to support the fact that no customer specifically asks for margerine, it would lend support to his conjecture that customers use the term butter to refer butter and margarine.

Summing up, the author may be correct in his conclusion that customers do not distinguish butter from margarine or they use the term 'butter' to refer to either butter or margarine. However, he has failed to examine alternate explanations for his observations. As a result his argument cannot be accepted in its present state.