# Hey, ad people-- words mean things!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225 "2008-10-23T16:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/21 "2008-10-23T19:26:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Heheh. I keep seeing ‘soft eating cakes’ on packs of imported Dutch baked goods. Soft _Eating_ Cakes? What? As opposed to Soft _Throwing_ Cakes or something? It’s so you don’t get them confused with soft urinal cakes. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/22 "2008-10-23T19:29:45Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Sur steeliness cabochon diagonal involve motivated pop heads thick. Army dots? Sinus. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/23 "2008-10-23T19:33:19Z")
> [@jali](#): > > “It’s not fast food. It’s Wendy’s.” I hate products that don’t like to be called what they are. See also: commercials in the South\* for “manufactured homes” (shitty fucking trailers). \*We certainly have trailer parks up North, but the South is the only place I’ve seen them actually advertised (and advertised all the goddamn time, at that). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/24 "2008-10-23T19:37:59Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Sur steeliness cabochon diagonal involve motivated pop heads thick. That is totally lubricated. Well, I’m phasing. Marvy. Fab. Far out. Someone on this board will get this reference. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/25 "2008-10-23T19:38:13Z")
I’m in marketing and this kind of shit drives me absolutely stabby. Dumbfucks who put together ads like that are the reason our profession is so roundly loathed. What the hell is wrong with telling the audience what your product does, why it does it better than the competition and presenting that information in an engaging manner that will prompt the consumer to buy? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/26 "2008-10-23T20:20:48Z")
There was a commercial last night that I wish I could remember to add to this ranting. I turned to my husband (as I often do while watching commercials) and said, “Blah blah blah? That doesn’t even mean anything!” (“Blah blah blah” being whatever stupid thing the commercial was claiming.) There are billboards around town right now for some car that say, “Luxury is the New Rugged.” No, it freakin’ well isn’t. “Stabby” is a good word for what they make me. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/27 "2008-10-23T20:59:10Z")
According to their most recent commercial, Barbasol has shaving creams in “seven flavors.” I’m not in their target audience, but I have to ask the gentlemen out there: Have you ever been so sleepy in the morning that, while shaving, you have mistaken your shaving cream for something edible? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/28 "2008-10-23T21:11:48Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I hate products that don’t like to be called what they are. See also: commercials in the South\* for “manufactured homes” (shitty fucking trailers). Especially since “manufactured homes” aren’t necessarily trailers or mobile homes. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/29 "2008-10-23T21:13:06Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > According to their most recent commercial, Barbasol has shaving creams in “seven flavors.” > > I’m not in their target audience, but I have to ask the gentlemen out there: Have you ever been so sleepy in the morning that, while shaving, you have mistaken your shaving cream for something edible? Silly! It’s a shaving cream **and** a dessert topping! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/30 "2008-10-23T21:15:14Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > There are billboards around town right now for some car that say, “Luxury is the New Rugged.” No, it freakin’ well isn’t. “Stabby” is a good word for what they make me. I think this rant needs to be %10 more rasta. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/31 "2008-10-23T21:16:20Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Not only is it not a word, but acronyms aren’t allowed in Scrabble. I can stand a dumb teacher, but never will I allow a Scrabble cheat to go free. Sure they are, as long as they’re words (e.g. laser). You just can’t use acronyms that aren’t words. Which is to say that you can’t use it if it’s not a word. Acronym has nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/32 "2008-10-23T21:18:34Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > It’s more of a grammatical - or even just stylistic - irritation, but every time I hear the legendary “like a Spackle or paste” colon cleanse commercial, it irritates me when the narrator changes tense to, “And ladies, do you ever have **this** bloated feeling?” It should be THAT. If we’re going to be persnickety about words, this isn’t a matter of tense; it’s a matter of deixis. And while it does strike me as odd when read here devoid of context, perhaps the reason for the word choice is that the narrator is pointing out the bloated feelings of someone on-screen (or even himself), in which case it doesn’t strike me as out of place. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/33 "2008-10-23T21:24:39Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > That is totally lubricated. Well, I’m phasing. > > Marvy. Fab. Far out. > > Someone on this board will get this reference. I got that one plasmic, but can you get this one? > [@Biggirl](#): > > O.K., I surrender. I’m gonna go add some hot nefcu flavor to taste. “Nefcu?” “It’s a worm in New Guniea. Everyone knows that.” ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/34 "2008-10-23T21:40:06Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > That is totally lubricated. Well, I’m phasing. > > Marvy. Fab. Far out. > > Someone on this board will get this reference. Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/35 "2008-10-23T21:56:30Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > “Nefcu?” > > “It’s a worm in New Guniea. Everyone knows that.” I’d look it up to prove you wrong, but then you’d just look up the one I used with all the X’s and Z’s. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/36 "2008-10-23T21:58:34Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Silly! It’s a shaving cream **and** a dessert topping! WHAT?!?! I’ve been using it as a _floor wax_!! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/37 "2008-10-23T22:10:53Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I hate products that don’t like to be called what they are. See also: commercials in the South\* for “manufactured homes” (shitty fucking trailers). > > \*We certainly have trailer parks up North, but the South is the only place I’ve seen them actually advertised (and advertised all the goddamn time, at that). Out here in CA, when you see " New _Homes_ for sale" they always mean condos. Why not say _condo_? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/38 "2008-10-23T22:27:08Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > According to their most recent commercial, Barbasol has shaving creams in “seven flavors.” I don’t have a problem with this one - if it can describe varieties of subatomic particles or versions of an operating system, then types of shaving cream isn’t much of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/39 "2008-10-23T22:28:58Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I don’t have a problem with this one - if it can describe varieties of subatomic particles or versions of an operating system, then types of shaving cream isn’t much of a stretch. But can you add taste to it? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225/40 "2008-10-23T22:34:35Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I hate products that don’t like to be called what they are. See also: commercials in the South\* for “manufactured homes” (shitty fucking trailers). Didn’t Bobs Shitty Fucking Trailer Store eventually go out of business sometime last year or so? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-ad-people-words-mean-things/469225.md?page=3)