Leslie Savan on Cant
Leslie Savan's Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever (Knopf, 2005) is a collection of clever journalistic pieces on assorted aspects of modern cant. As Ms Savan points out, cant has always been with us. But not nearly so inescapably.
There was a time - the twilight of respectability - when manufacturers and other businessmen wanted to associate their products with the highest standards, and this produced rather starchy copy. Now that they're interested only in projecting some refraction of cool, however, advertisers take jargon right from the streets, while it's still in limited use, give it a high shine, and pump it into the ether, where it presently becomes familiar to just about everybody.
Nor is this a question of vocabulary alone. Catchphrases are encapsulated in a package of accent and attitude. It's this, perhaps, that puts cant in the same relation to expressive speech that a scanned image has to a text file. Cant and image alike cannot be analyzed into component parts. When Coke calls itself "The Real Thing," the ensemble of red waves, pretty faces, or vocal charms dampen the meanings of "real" and "thing." What does "It's the Real Thing" signify? Ultimately, nothing...
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