semantic drif t: "scream"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Gentlemen, please. My posts do not assert that advertising is destroying our language or that earlier meanings of "scream" have suddenly been extinguished.

  They say instead that the neutral or positive use of "scream" in the Dell ad is markedly odd.  Whoever is behind the advertising copy seems to have picked "scream" because earlier advertising staples, like "proclaim," have been sucked dry, although those of us not trying to flog anything to America's trendoids remain perfectly free to use them. And I said "drift," not "shift," and "inflation," not "destruction."   I would mark Dell's "scream" as "poor diction" on a freshman theme and frown deeply while doing so.

  If I'm the only one who finds this use of "scream" peculiar in brainstormed, vetted, and edited prose, so be it. But if I am, the semantics of "scream" are indeed shifting, just more extensively than I thought.

  Next time I hear somebody screaming, I'll just assume it's ice cream they want.

  JL


James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Harbeck
Subject: Re: semantic drif t: "scream"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>So "Scream, Blacula, Scream" implies no more horror than "Speak,
>Blacula, Speak"?
> I stand corrected, but you guys must find poetry to be unusually challenging

An interesting contention, given that an understanding of poetry
typically requires knowledge and understanding of all the possible
nuances and connotations of a given word. I would think that a
refusal to accept certain meanings that are in use would make poetry
more of a challenge.

The use of "scream" you cite is fairly common in the parts of the
continent I've lived in. No horror is required. It often has somewhat
camp overtones, though.

James Harbeck.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



---------------------------------
Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org