The power of words never ceases to amaze me. The fact that we as a species communicate by making a series of vocal chord vibrations, and gave symbols to those sounds so we could universally understand them is mind boggling. And sometimes, people can be very clever with their wording. Take, for instance, metaphor in microstyle. It's a clever way to get across an idea without having to use long, unending paragraphs.
A great example of this is Tropicana's old slogan "Your Daily Ray of Sunshine." It's understood that the consumer isn't actually drinking a glass of sunshine (because that would probably burn a little bit), and that the slogan is instead using what we understand in our cultural space as being a metaphor. Sunshine is equated with happiness, and drinking Tropicana will light up your life! It's a smart use of the slogan; simple and understandable by a large majority.
And then, of course, there is ambiguity in mircostyle. When done intentionally, it's very clever, but when it's not, it's downright hilarious. For instance, the news headline "FARMER BILL DIES IN HOUSE." When first reading this, is looks as if poor old Farmer Bill has died in his home. However, what it means to say is that a farmer bill, or law, died in the House of Representatives. This shows how strange, yet entertaining language can be, if you don't say the right thing.
Language is so strange, and yet I can't help but love it. Guess it's a good thing I'm an English major.
Yes--language is endlessly interesting, because there is always something new to marvel at or fret over (at least from my perspective!) For some reason, you are reminding me of the New Yorker caption contest--how hard it is to write a good caption, and how language and images can be made to work together. Maybe we will try a caption contest in class.
ReplyDelete