There’s a little book on grammar and punctuation whose title clearly demonstrates the importance of arranging words and punctuation properly. “The panda eats, shoots, and leaves.” brings a giggle whenever I envision the meaning of that statement. What a difference those two little commas make! A large majority of the words in our language have multiple definitions and we wouldn’t always know which meaning applies without considering the context, order and punctuation of the written words. The problem is compounded when we have to deal with the spoken word – especially in the language of television commercials.
One of the greatest annoyances of those TV ads is the use of words in a way that seems to have meaning, but actually says nothing. An ad for a service to stop leaks in basement walls claims that it is “available at a fraction of the cost.” The cost of what? I wonder, but they don’t tell us. Another, even more bewildering, ad for an airbrush makeup system claims to use “ten times less makeup.” Again, we are not told what the amount is ten times less than, but that’s not my real problem. I can’t figure out exactly what “ten times less” means. If it’s supposed to mean one-tenth, whoever wrote that ad must have missed school the week they taught fractions. I’ve imagined it might mean that, if one used twenty percent less makeup with the new system, then ten times that would be two hundred percent. That would mean…well, they’d have to use minus twice the amount they used before. Makes no sense at all.
Have you noticed lately how many ads for products are “affected by shortages resulting from the pandemic”? We are lured into ordering the “limited number per order” by the threat of the product being out of stock if we wait too long. There is the unspoken suggestion that you should hoard extras for the future, just in case. Such urgency entices people to buy the product – now – even if they have no real need for it – yet. There’s an old saying that “A fool and his money are soon parted,” and another stating that “There’s a sucker born every minute.” My warnings probably won’t deter anybody who fails to pay attention to the meanings of those clever phrases put together by experts at misleading statements, but I hate seeing the language abused, so I keep trying.
A lot more harm is done by politicians who intentionally use emotion-laden words and phrases to sway thinking to their own advantage. This is a decades old custom in our lives, springing from centuries in ancient Greek and Roman forums, and probably earlier in unwritten history. A few handy catchphrases and some words that create a measure of doubt and fear have the potential to sway the opinions of thousands of voters who don’t listen carefully to the real meaning of what’s being said. Here are a few examples from current campaign rhetoric. One candidate claims that WOKE is “depriving our children of their innocence” when it is simply supplying students with information, at their own level of comprehension, so that they can understand themselves and others and arrive at their own conclusions. Providing truthful, useful information can hardly be defined as “indoctrination.” Corrective surgery that improves lives is represented as “mutilation” by those who do not understand the need for repairing nature’s mistakes now that we have the knowledge and skills to do so – yet these same people will subject themselves to nose jobs, face lifts and breast enhancements in the name of mere vanity.
When somebody applies ugly words such as “mob” and “gang” to groups they oppose, it creates instant unease or suspicion, though totally unwarranted, in the mind of the listener. And the phrase, “Good old American family values,” gets misinterpreted to mean we must subject women to the rule of men simply because they are not men. While somewhere around seventy percent of Americans oppose the overturning of Rowe v Wade, women are denied the right to make decisions regarding their own lives. Decisions about giving birth, raising children, pursuing education and careers – simply because they are not men. Pay attention to what is really being said, not what they want you to think.