Archives for the 'Linguistics and Semantics' Category
More on masculinity
“Anything but cute (Dodge),” “Restore your manhood (Hummer)” and “I am man, hear me roar (Burger King).” These are only three examples of the latest language used in advertising. Although marketers and advertisers have repeatedly raped and ultimately killed the metrosexual a good year ago, they still seem to be scared of its ghost. In [...]
Change the language and stories first
I don’t quite know how to counter it either, but calling it bigotry, politics or untrue doesn’t do anything to revert support for the amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. said: “Marriage between one man and one woman does a better job protecting children better than any other institution humankind [...]
WWGOS?
What Would George Orwell Say? Catherine Bennett of The Guardian writes about the use of quotations from George Orwell’s writings. Increasingly, she claims, Orwell quotes are the most promising secular substitute for Bible quotes.
Guilty as charged. I’ve probably used them one too many times as well. Writing about the English language? Check. Writing about nationalism? [...]
I got good grammar
“Paris got fashion. We got whiskey. Sorry Paris.” is a line from one of the Jack Daniels commercials. With “got” they could mean receiving or coming into possession, but most likely they simply mean has. Maybe they thought it would go over well with the target market, but I’m clearly not their target market, as [...]
In the event that
I can dream all CTA announcements. Every day, at least twice a day, I hear them. Some bus drivers are obviously big fans of the announcements, others prefer to tell, or yell, it in their own voices. I really don’t have any complaints about the CTA, except for one particular announcement haunting my life:
“By opening [...]
Leave it to journalists
“Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate,” wrote an Associated Press reporter today. The article was syndicated everywhere from the BBC to the Chicago Tribune. “Leave it to the Dutch…” why? Are the Dutch not to be taken serious enough? Are those silly Dutch people the only ones stupid [...]
