Cartoon from WineWankers.com ©d
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In the January 3 issue of the Coaster we see a full page ad paid for by “Jack Green Realty” It consists of two sentences:
“Thank you to all of our customers and community for an amazing year from the staff of Jack Green Realty.
“We would like to wish everyone a healthy and Happy New Year.”
No one has personally signed this greeting/promotion ad, and at the bottom are the 3 addresses of JGR including Neptune City, Ocean Grove and Spring Lake.
So, at Blogfinger we are interested in the use of language, and we have our eyes open to examples where the public is presented with mindless gibberish. In an age of fake news and manipulative use of language in advertising, it’s interesting to see how we can be fooled, either intentionally or carelessly.
That is the case with this advertisement/greeting card. Of course we often run into gibberish around the Grove , especially from the Township Committee, the CMA, The Home Groaners , OGU, Chamber of Commercials, and others. And we at Blogfinger probably fall off the wagon ourselves once in a while. But this full page Coaster ad from Jack Green Realty is vulnerable and helps us make some points:
a. So JGR had an “amazing year.” Why should anyone but them care? And they credit their customers for their “amazing year.” But do any of their customers want to take credit and do any of their customers care if JGR had “an amazing year?”
b. They also thank the “community” for that amazing year. Really? Which community is JGR referring to? “Community” is one of those words that is often misused in and around Ocean Grove. One big offender that misuses this word is the Camp Meeting Association which never defines that word when they use it.
And the residents in town have pretty much ignored the word even though they probably have a good idea of what it should mean where they are concerned.
c. Realtors sell homes in our town. But what could be more important to a home buyer than the nature of the town that they will call home? Most of us want to live in a “community” of neighborly residents. That is essential for piece of mind for new home buyers.
But in this ad, the word “community” is just tossed out there without definition as if it were another of those aimless words/expressions such as “whatever!”
d. And how about that wish for “health and happiness” for “everyone?” Who is “everyone?”
e. Last month in New York City, at the “Gallery for Fine Photography” Josephine Sacabo used her photography to complain about the misuse of language as directed toward women:
Josephine Sacabo from her recent gallery show in NYC. Jan, 2019. The photo is lovely and contains a message. ©
She says, ” Walking the graffiti gauntlet from my house to my studio I am confronted by a lexicon of rampant misogyny, violence and sexual insults. The messages may be verbal but their effects are visceral. We are being ‘TAGGED’ – as hos, bitches, and worse, but I am not that woman.
“Why have women become the targets of the rage and frustration expressed? Why are women bearing the consequences for injustices they have not committed? Where are the graffiti messages by women meant for men?
“I do not have the answers to these questions, all I have are these images of what it feels like to be a woman walking these streets. And in this I know I am not alone.”
– Josephine Sacabo
f. This post is not meant to criticize JGR specifically , but they stuck their neck out with their Coaster ad, and therefore they became the object of our rant about the annoying misuse of language in the public space.
And if some of you find this editorial to be annoying, I can understand that. But for those who pay attention to the use of language, it might be of interest.
Probably the most viewed Blogfinger article over the years is one regarding the use of language written in 2012 by Charles Layton called “The Blogfinger Grammarian: Don’t be a Honey Badger” It is read every day. You can search for it above right.
From Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger, “Mr. Annoying Man,” and, in the best tradition of Barack Obama, a Community Organizer.
ERIC CLAPTON “Sign Language” by Bob Dylan:
“You speak to me in sign language,
As I’m eating a sandwich in a small cafe
At a quarter to three.
“But I can’t respond to your sign language.
You’re taking advantage, bringing me down.
Can’t you make any sound?”
In this article you rail against “the annoying misuse of language in the public space”. Yet in the article right after this one (Micanopy #5) you ignore one of the classic rules of grammar – Never end sentences with a preposition.
Your “Micanopy #5” article states “the groom looked at me and gave me a grin and a thumbs up”, and “Christmas decorations were scattered about.” Gotta practice what you preach!
Editor’s Note:
Old Timer: It appears that you have totally missed the point. My post is not about grammar; it is about the use of language to accurately express meaning.
As for not ending a sentence with a preposition, you are wrong about that one: Look it up!
And, “up” in this post is not a preposition; nor is the word “about.”
You will never find me criticizing someone’s grammar on Blogfinger. Although we might use the editor’s prerogative and make a correction, our reading public will never know when that happens.
Paul @ Blogfinger