Friday, December 26, 2014

Meaningfulness

   "A rose is a rose is a rose, and by any other name it would still smell." -- Gertrude Stein

   We don't buy stuff. We have a purchasing experience.

   Concept marketers often change words and phrases, usually from plain English to longer, Latin-based words in attempts to make some crude or costly more acceptable.
   Examples: A gas company just sent a notice to customers advising that we will no longer get monthly charges. Instead, we will be provided with "an exciting billing experience."
   We no longer buy a used car. Instead, we acquire a "previously owned vehicle" through a pleasant "purchasing experience."
   We don't eat out. We have a "splendid dining experience."
   Hippies don't get stoned. They have "a pharmaceutical experience."

   Government agents don't use torture. They utilize "enhanced interrogation techniques."
   When you redefine your term, you can define it out of existence.
   Tell that to the Spanish Inquisition, when they redefined their techniques so that anything short of bloodletting was an acceptable means of squeezing out a confession.
   But then, the CIA would hardly expect to be compared to the Spanish Inquisition.
  Nobody expects that.

No comments:

Post a Comment