Thursday, April 5, 2012

Words. Powerful and wasted.

Alas, I am old-fashioned.

I believe--despite what the the digitalligentsia says--in the power of words. I would bet that whoever runs for president, one of the candidates will say something profound (or more likely stupid) and it will enter our vernacular. It will become a meme. Like 'maverick' did last time and 'Mission Accomplished' did some years earlier.

As someone who believes in this power I find it astonishing how cavalierly words are chosen and used. How insipid and uninspired are so many of our choices.

It seems like half the "Fortune 500" has a tagline that reads something like this:
"The power of connection."

Not only do I have no idea what those words mean, they don't even have the courtesy of telling me what the company does.

Just now I saw a tagline on the side of a white panel truck on Ninth Avenue. It was a truck that belonged to the Transel Elevator Company. It said: "The professional's choice."

It never before occurred to me that anyone but a professional would actually choose an elevator.

No comments: