Showing posts with label English language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English language. Show all posts

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Vibrant blood?















Despite passing by this banner a number of times on my way to work and back, I hadn't figured out what the copywriter actually meant by these words.

Was he trying to contrast an energetic and enthusiastic tunnel of people with vibrant-looking blood? Energetic and enthusiastic bloodletting a la a vampire or cult movie? A bright and bold looking tunnel? What has that to do with donating blood?

Friday, May 2, 2008

Bad grammar in ad















Saw this ad on the MRT train some time back. I wonder what the copywriters are doing when they allow such a glaring mistake in an ad they help to produce.

"Solves hair problems quick & effectively"

The use of "quick" sounds like Singlish. Not that I'm against Singlish, which has its own syntax and structure, and is something that marks our people and gives us a common identity. (Hey you think any old ang moh can speak Singlish properly? It's not just lahs and lors hor.)

However, Singlish is unaccceptable usage in proper Singapore English and in written English, except perhaps as an ad for a Jack Neo movie.

So, to end this, the line should have been: Solves hair problems quickly & effectively.