Saturday, September 27, 2008

Wertigkeit neu erleben

VW hits a new low in mastery of language, taking the word "valence" (Wertigkeit) from specialist fields (chemistry/linguistics) and claiming you can experience it anew with an automoblile: "Wertigkeit neu erleben: der neue Golf". They have plastered half of the billboards in Berlin with this nonsensical claim. I'm not sure if they think the car is valuable, offers value, or contains some strange chemical isotopes with heretofore unknown valences.
Keep on going and no one will be able to understand why they should park their cars and get on a train or a bike or walk before all that shiny metal is turned into temporary housing for the homeless.
Don't get cynical, though, think and defy such misuse of langage. If hopefully defiant, you can survive the morast of unintelligibilty.
The ad people don't know what they're saying anyway...
Dare to value language highly and experience that value anew every day!
Just buy a BOOK instead of a car!

2 comments:

  1. It can also be translated into English as "valency" and "atomicity."

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  2. Which, of course, is even more evidence of how applicable it is to a car.
    Oh, that we can rescue language(s) from admen run wild !

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