Specialized/professional registers

Advertising jargon

Jargon represents the technical or secret vocabulary used by specialists belonging to a particular field of activity. Jargon is an essential part of the network of occupations and hobbies in society. Style is generally treated as a characteristic way of using language applied to literary language and studied as a characteristic of particular genres, periods, authors. Functional style refers to a system of interrelated language means serving a definite aim in communication and appearing mainly in the literary standard of the language. I.V. Arnold described 4 functional styles: poetic, scientific, newspaper and colloquial. The register of advertising belongs to the newspaper functional style according to Galperins classification.

The newspaper functional style

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Function and characteristics Brief items inform the reader, state only facts without giving comments in a neutral and common literary vocabulary. Specificc features are: Special political and economic terms; Abbreviations; Neologisms;

Classified and non-classified advertisments and announcements inform the reader. In classifieds, the information is arranged according to the subject matter: births, marriages, deaths, business offers, personal,etc.

News style/journalese Media registers include newspaper report, editorial letter, headline, register of magazines advertising, tabloid talk.

How to Cut Through Car Advertising Jargon

With the current economic down cycle, the old saying, If it seems too good to be true...it probably is, has been challenged a few times with the current great deals that are out there on car lots. Right now there are better deals on vehicles than there has been in a long time. Low interest rates, 0% money down, cash back incentives, and even free gas. If you're in the market for an economical or hybrid vehicle and want to take advantage of some of the great deals going on, we offer you some guidelines on how to cut through car advertising jargon and see through to the deals that are actually being offered. Such advertising tricks fall under these six attention grabbers... "No money down!" "Up to $5,000 cash back." "0% Interest." "$500.00 and a really cool key chain to everyone who takes a test drive." "Low monthly payments." "Free gas for three months."

"No Money Down!" A dealer can use this offer as a cover behind higher overall monthly payments. This means nothing until you've heard the full story. Also remember that the less money you put down, the higher your monthly payment will be, the more interest you will end up paying, and ultimately the more trouble that you could get yourself into.

"Up to $5,000 Cash Back." Be sure to read the fine print here. More than likely there is a minimum purchase price for the car you need to purchase before you can collect the maximum cash back amount. Many of these deals are also unfortunately attached to gas guzzling SUV's that nobody wants. Just because Nissan says they are offering cash back, doesn't mean they are talking about for their economyminded line of vehicles.

"0% Interest." There is not one dealer who can honestly promise you such a low car loan without first looking over your credit, which these days needs to be impeccable in order to receive 0% interest. Also keep in mind that manufacturers often decide how many months they will allow you to receive 0%, which is usually on the low side (36 months), which will also mean you will be paying a higher overall monthly payment. "Free Gas For Three Months" With $1.50 gas in some areas, this dealer ploy is not being used much, but it's still worth mentioning. Many of these deals involved a special credit card that had to be used in order to receive the discount. The free gas was also not unlimited to as much as you needed, but rather designated by how much they assume that you would be driving per month. This is often to get your mind of the actual deal you are making and think about how great it is going to be to get free gas. Don't fall for it!

L'argus Magazine Car Advertisement: Five cars were parked in Paris, full of money and a bluetooth transmitter kept sending messages to people passing close to the car, "don't spend all your money in your car - read L'argus".

Advertising Jargon That Aims to Mislead

"Never pay for a covered repair again" We see and hear this one a lot in insurance commercials. Lately, it has been used in a commercial offering extended warranties on cars. And it is used in such a way that you think "Oh great, no more repair bills, I'm covered." Well, I'm afraid not. The key word here is "covered," and it renders the whole phrase useless. See, they don't tell you in the ad what is and is not covered. For all you know, the only repair that is covered is when the engine turns itself into a bowl of banana pudding. Saying you'll "never pay for a covered repair again" is like saying your umbrella will "keep you dry on the sunniest day." Well duh, of course it will. A covered repair, well, it's covered. Of course you don't pay for it. But WHAT is covered? Is anything covered that is actually important? Find out before you buy an insurance policy or warranty that has more holes in it than 100 lbs. of Swiss cheese.

 "Buy

10 for $10"

It could be any variation of items for dollars, but the sign is misleading 99% of the time. Very, very rarely do you actually have to buy 10 items to get them for $1 each. They will simply ring up as $1 at the register, whether you buy four or five or even nine. The store is employing a simple tactic of misdirection. They want you focusing on picking out ten items rather than daring to buy just a few. And most of the time, as robotic consumers, we do what we're told and buy ten packets of rice or bottles of soda. If you do happen to buy a few, and they ring up as more expensive, just keep your eagle eye on the register and let the checkout person know you have decided against those items. But that happens once in a blue moon.

"Just pay shipping and handling" Again, another landmine you need to dodge. That phrase is loaded. No legitimate business can turn a profit by giving away product and only asking you to pay for postage. In these instances, which often accompany the free trial, you are paying for S&H up front with a credit card, and that information will be used to charge you for something else later on.

Portuguese agency Torke has developed a selfdeprecating form of promotional material for its business. Jargon Bingo features several key words du jour that weve all used (at least once) in our presentations, client calls or daily advertising and marketing-related conversations, but have since started to lose meaning. We doubt anyone will be able to get through a whole line without bursting into laughter.