Monday, 14 December 2015

You have no idea how long it took me to work out how to make a new post... The way I speak essay thingy: init

My lexis, tone and accent code shift depending on who I'm with, context and what I deem appropriate. I still say the wrong thing though, a trait from my father me thinks. Talking about the devil, when I am with my beloved father we play around with different accents a lot; I tend to have more relaxed speech when I'm with him than with my friends. When I am with my family I would say I am less polite, this is probably because they will still love me despite what I say and they know I'm only joking, I hope.However, I don't swear in their presence.I would say I am a true brit and most of my conversations are full of phatic expressions like Hello, How are you? etc. I have noticed that with some friends, I tend to take on their accent a little, particularly when I'm talking to my friend from America. From time to time I like to use initialisms, particularly BRB, GG and LOL. I will also say them as acronyms, to add to the comical effect, but only when I'm talking to my "internet friends".I like to think that I have good diction, pronounce my Ts and not relatable to Norfolk in anyway. But despite my best efforts, the Norfolk appears. I say barth instead of bath, grarss instead of grass and glarss instead of glass. I use a lot of fillers in my speech and will hedge to make my statements softer, maybe.

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

The cause and solution to all of life's problems

Today I will be analysing and babbling about alcoholic brand names. Let us begin with the lager, Tennents. The proper noun Tennents sounds phonetically similar to the common noun tenants. This could have a hidden meaning, that being your patrons enjoy the lager so much that they can't stop drinking it, thus becoming so bladdered that they can't go home. So they have to rent a room for the night and become your tenant. A genius money making scheme.

Some alcoholic brands have resorted to using animals in their drinks... I mean names. Take for instance: Famous Grouse, Old Speckled Hen and Lion's Gate. Using the names of animals could help to persuade people to buy the product, especially if they like animals. They may connotate the animal name with their faithful companion at home. However, if you don't like pets/animals then your audience may be biased to avoid your liquid, they might associate it with that little intolerance that keeps messing in their garden.

The liqueur, Southern Comfort, has undoubtedly some of the best adverts mankind has ever seen! I would say that the brand name was intended with a literal meaning. The substance in made in Louisiana, New Orleans which is down in the south of America. So it makes perfectly logical sense to refer to it being southern. The use of comfort may be to suggest that when you drink their southern concoction, you feel pure delight and indulgence rendering your body, particularly your liver, into an utter state of comfort.

Lucky Lager, Rolling Rock and Boundary Bay Brewing Company have all used alliteration in their names. This gives the names a nice bounce when spoken. Potential consumers may associate this bounce in the phrase with the taste, encouraging them to buy their product.