semantic drift: "scream"

[Jonathan Lighter]

In my life, "scream" has almost entirely negative or troubling connotations: someone's in pain, a bomb is whizzing toward you, a factory whistle is going off next to your ear, you're in space and nobody can hear you, etc.  In evidence, I submit to you the film title, "Scream, Blacula, Scream!" (1973), which was meant to suggest horror. The movie advertised itself with the line "The Black Prince of Shadows Stalks the Earth Again!"  Pretty scary, no?

  The latest Dell computer catalogue, however, promises that their new laptop isn't just an annoying electronic gizmo. Instead, it's "a design statement that screams innovation."
  And they mean that in a good way.

  This is a good example of word inflation inj advertising gone bats.  Vaguely positive, then neutral, then ambivalent words (like "embody," "say," "announce," "proclaim," and even "shout") have been sucked dry (pun intended, Blacula fans).

  So you get "scream."

  JL




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