Random language abuse
Aug. 24th, 2003 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tahnanI'm a descriptivist, not a prescriptivist, which means that I am only interested in describing how people use language and not in telling them that some things are right and others wrong. But.
Two recent misuses so egregious that I can't be the only one who suffers from having seen them:
1. Poking around the Lipton Tea website, looking for their recommendation for sun-brewed tea which I've never tried to make, I find: "Choose among a stunning variety of teas to find one that will suit your palette as well as your mood."
Never mind that I hate advertizing copy and that I'm not stunned by six green teas and twelve black teas. Mostly I'm wondering what artists out there are trying to match teas to the colors they use.
Malapropisms aren't uncommon, particularly when the two words are homophones, but that sort of mistake in the advertizing section of a company's website strikes me as more inexcusable than most.
2. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that told me to "Invest in Jesus: his flock always goes up!" As a pun it's not too bad. The problem I had was not the sentiment, but the fact that the sixth word was, in fact, spelled "alway's". I think this is more or less covered by Rule Three of Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots, which I'm starting to feel tempted to print out and stick under windshield wipers or hand to merchants.
Two recent misuses so egregious that I can't be the only one who suffers from having seen them:
1. Poking around the Lipton Tea website, looking for their recommendation for sun-brewed tea which I've never tried to make, I find: "Choose among a stunning variety of teas to find one that will suit your palette as well as your mood."
Never mind that I hate advertizing copy and that I'm not stunned by six green teas and twelve black teas. Mostly I'm wondering what artists out there are trying to match teas to the colors they use.
Malapropisms aren't uncommon, particularly when the two words are homophones, but that sort of mistake in the advertizing section of a company's website strikes me as more inexcusable than most.
2. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that told me to "Invest in Jesus: his flock always goes up!" As a pun it's not too bad. The problem I had was not the sentiment, but the fact that the sixth word was, in fact, spelled "alway's". I think this is more or less covered by Rule Three of Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots, which I'm starting to feel tempted to print out and stick under windshield wipers or hand to merchants.