As regular readers will know, there's little we like more than noting the often tiny but cumulatively telling signs of a language in constant evolution. A cracking example came our way just the other day, courtesy of commentary on the latest series of Big Brother:

"Later, Tweed was seen by viewers of the live coverage on E4 referring to Shetty by a word that was bleeped out during a late-night chat. This was reported by some Indian media outlets as Tweed calling Shetty a "Paki" but a Channel 4 spokeswoman yesterday said that he had not used racist language, which would not have been bleeped, but had called her a "cunt"."

Oh, well that's all right then.  

It all brings to mind a fascinating recent C4 programme looking into the metamorphosis of broadcast English over recent decades. Once-taboo words such as xxxx, xxxx and xxxx have become commonplace. Racial epithets have meanwhile all but disappeared from our screens. Well within my lifetime, the 'offensiveness' of, say, Alf Garnet's 'bloody coons' has transferred pretty much entirely from one word to the other. All of this, of course, a vivid reminder of how strong words' emotional resonance can be - constituting a fair greater proportion of their significance, in the widest sense, than any simplistic account of their 'meaning'.

Nor is this true only in such politically charged areas. A recent project called on us to use 'everyday' language in drafting materials for coffee. 'If you wouldn't say it, don't write it.' Fair enough, and in line with the broadly egalitarian, everyday, non-pompous approach we've been espousing for years. But what if you want to refer to the coffee's 'aroma'? Everyday? Hardly. Prefer 'smell'? Nearer 'normal', without question, but what about emotional resonance? In the end, we rejected 'smell' as just too flat and utilitarian, so opted for 'aroma', notwithstanding its slight air of pretension. Such decisions are seldom as cut & dried as plausible general 'principles' might suggest.

Tone of voice. Increasingly acknowledged to lie at the very core of any brand. It's as basic as whether you're the kind of person who says 'it isn't' or the kind of person who says 'it ain't'. They 'mean' the same thing. What they say is a very different matter.  

Kind regards

Alan Paterson
ampers& limited
t: +44 (0)20 7379 5869
f: +44 (0)20 7379 5875
www.wherewordswork.com
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