About Emma
Emma Clarke is a leading female voiceover and comedy/drama writer. She voices all kinds of things from advertisements to radio identity packages – but is best known as the ‘voice of the London Underground’.
Previous postings
- Cutting edge discussion: how to say road names in a commercial
- Facing the nation on the telly – the key issues
- Unaccustomed as I am...
- Mind the Gap: The inside story of a very British fiasco
- Awkward Advertising: BT’s Adam and Jane ads
- Translate these phrases into actual English and you’ll win a prize!*
- Excuse me, would you like to rent my mouth?
- Awkward Advertising: John Prescott the boxer
- Awkward Advertising: JLS Wii Party
- Awkward Advertising: Nice ‘n’ Easy’s Dance class ad
- Awkward Advertising: The Boots ‘Not giving gifts this year’ ad
- Awkward Advertising: Halifax’s “ISA ISA Baby” TV ad
- Awkward Advertising: that bloody Match Affinity commercial
Archives
Ban slang? Good luck with that.
Tuesday
Dec 8 2009
What’s with the sudden push to ban things? First fat gags, now slang. Are people banning things for advent?
Article
In this excellent article slang and its place in the English language is explored. There’s no point me re-writing the article here – have a read, it really is brilliant – I’m wondering what commercials would be like in a world where slang has become accepted into mainstream English – the kind that’s used for broadcast on radio or the telly.
Commercial gain
Can you picture it? A beautifully shot food ad, the camera slowly panning over gorgeously-lit, sexy-looking, steamy comestibles which gently tumble onto pristine, hand-crafted crockery...just like the popular M & S TV commercials...
“Bitchin’ chicken in a white wine sauce, innit. Mint gravy made from hot and bangin’ stock. Tender, well chung carrots, cooked, like, nanging. And for laters, bare, fine and peng sticky toffee pudding, served with the creamiest Devon angel-phlegm. Word! It’s well sik. And it ain’t much green, no. You’d have to be like serious four oh four not to, like, want it. So get it, geeza. Whateva.”
Language evolves
The English language, like our own poor human form, has evolved over time. And it will continue to evolve. Nothing can stop it. The English language is like a glacier; slowly it moves across time, relentlessly scoring its path across the social landscape, taking whatever it rips up with it on its journey.
Modern English is a slag pit of many languages, as a result of our social history; the Norman Conquest, the invasion of the Vikings, Latin, Greek, a ragbag of words accumulated through the acquistion of The British Empire, new technology – all these things and many more besides – mean that new words become used by English-speakers around the world all the time. As the world changes, so does our language.
And to suggest ‘banning’ a kind of language not only gives it a sort of subversive cachet, it’s also a complete waste of time and energy.
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