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Brands and taglines are the new rhyming slang

January 31, 2012 By Emily 5 Comments

Or maybe it’s not that new. But ‘I’m starting to notice that people using brands and taglines in everyday speech is more widespread than I thought’ seemed like a boring lesson title.

I’m not talking about brands becoming the accepted word for what they represent. Band-aid, vaseline, thermos, google – boring, boring, boring, boring. I mean using the brand or tag line because the words themselves have relevance to what you are saying.

I do it myself without really noticing it. When someone asks me how something is (my drink, my meal, the temperature), I often respond with “It’s fine. It’s great. It’s Kellogg’s Just Right”. And a friend of mine responds to the question, “How are you?” with, “LG – Life’s Good.”

The following example even made it into Channel Nine’s news broadcast on Sunday night: “Many believe Nadal is Cherry Ripe to win the final tonight.” I’d never heard it used this way, let alone on a national news broadcast!

I’ve tried to research this (in the ten minutes I had free today) and haven’t found much. So, please, help me out.

Have you noticed brands and taglines being used in everyday speech? Do you use any yourself?

Filed Under: Wordy nerdiness

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Comments

  1. Jackie K says

    January 31, 2012 at 10:16 pm

    Very funny! i haven’t heard this that much but I am definitely going to start doing it myself! 😉

    Related: in the old days people used catchphrases from TV shows (“joke Joyce”), whereas now the catchphrases often come from ads (“Not happy Jan”; “it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen” etc)

    Reply
  2. Jess@Diary of a SAHM says

    February 1, 2012 at 11:38 am

    I can’t say I had taken much notice, but I think Jackie is right; there are a lot of ad catch phrases that have caught on.
    I’m trying to think of something, but my mind is completely blank!

    Reply
  3. Veronica @ Mixed Gems says

    February 2, 2012 at 8:26 am

    I think it’s normal that some things become part of the common vernacular over time. I’ve heard some and used “not happy Jan”, “how embarrassment”, “doh”. Apart from those, with toddlers, I can’t help singing various songs, particularly Yo Gabba Gabba and hose catch phrases have caught on like, “don’t bite your friends” and “keep trying”. I wonder if the same happened one or two Or three generations ago or if its more prolific now due to our technology. Interesting. Visiting via IBOT.

    Reply
  4. Emily says

    February 2, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    Thanks for the comments. I agree, Veronica – it’s completely normal, and necessary so that our language can change to reflect the changing world we live in.

    Hoping to collect more brand/tagline examples – let the internet trawling begin!

    Reply
  5. Misha - TheBlingBuoy says

    February 5, 2012 at 8:01 am

    I think I must be living under a rock because I’ve never noticed this before! But I’ll be keeping an ear out now!

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Emily

I parent. I write. I blog. I play with words and numbers in my head. Constantly. It's crowded in there.

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