authentic seed overload

[Brenda Lester]

EXTREME has replaced NEW AND IMPROVED.

  the toothpaste phrase is moronic as well as oxymoronic.

  bl



Matthew Gordon <gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Matthew Gordon
Subject: Re: authentic seed overload
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This example reminds me of a recent toothpaste encounter. I had
inadvertently bought a tube of Crest whose flavor was "extreme herbal mint."
This label struck me as a phrase that is both redundant and oxymoronic b/c
of the semantics of 'herbal.' Mint is an herb so 'herbal mint' is redundant.
But, herbal also has connotations, for me at least, of being natural,
soothing etc. (e.g. herbal tea) and so it's odd to have an 'extreme herbal'
anything (well, maybe not anything....).


On 2/13/08 9:56 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" wrote:

> In our kitchen this morning I discovered a package of hors-d'oeuvre type
> crackers whose label boasted "Authentic Seed Overload."
>
> After remonstrating with my wife for bringing such an evidently unstable and
> hazardous product into our home, I discovered - to my chagrin - that the
> phrase was equivalent to what used to be called "Real Sesame Seed Topping!"
>
> Surely this is a novel, and misleading, use of "overload."
>
> JL
>
>
>
>
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