The Judge RANTS!
Date: 18/11/10
Half-Baked Language
With all the talk of redundancies about the place at the moment, I just wish that there was a programme for ridding us of redundant verbiage.
A small example. Looking at the box for the cakes I bought the other day, it says:
"Carefully baked in the UK"
What the hell's with that "carefully"? It simply isn't necessary. If you didn't bake them carefully, you wouldn't tell anyone, would you?
And what selling point or advantage are they gaining on their competitors? Do they think that there are people who buy cakes bearing the legend:
"Carelessly baked in the UK"
Or, if going for the candour vote:
"Baked in the UK not giving a rat's arse"
It's all flannel, part of the way in which words are used to mess with our perceptions.
I won't give the name of the brand in question, but I doubt if this is an Exceedingly Good use of language.
