Comments on: Expecting more, paying less

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:56:25 +0000

You can definitely count me among the nonprofessionals, but I like to kick up dust as well. Those who don’t wonder if knowledge is illusory are missing something, even if the something is nothing. For linguists, how about “talking incessantly and then complaining they can’t hear.” (Not that I want you to stop talking.)

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:48:00 +0000

Well, I realize that all of the slogans I brought up are non-problematic for most people, and that even I was able to grasp the meaning of, for instance, "Expect more. Pay less," once I was able to take off my linguist hat. It is probably at least to some degree intentional that these slogans are vague. As long as they point in the right direction (i.e., "we are a good place for you to take your business"), people's imaginations will go the rest of the way. Something like "at [our place], you'll just get more" is suggestive enough that the actual substance of "more" can be left up to the viewer who feels like they have some need for "more."

This is probably the curse of the expert. Those who think about language most also worry most when something unexpected comes by; those who worry themselves about the nature of knowledge/truth/existence (like philosophers) also likely are most concerned about, say, whether they actually know anything or not. It's something that ordinary people just don't worry about, since it's perfectly possible to move around the world and interact with people without wondering: "is knowledge illusory?" (as they say, a philosopher is someone who kicks up dust and then complains they can't see; I wonder what the analogous statement is for linguists)

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:38:55 +0000

It’s “clearly” something like this — expect more from your shopping experience than you are used to, and pay less than you would expect to pay for this superior experience. The fact that the slogan hasn’t been made a mockery by the TV comic crowd means the general sense of the phrase is obvious, even though the exact meaning is a bit vague.

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 16:07:07 +0000

The really frightening thing is that these kinds of slogans seem to work even though no one clearly understands what they mean.

By: Russell

Russell — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:32:18 +0000

Chris: ahh, I didn't think of that. So it could have been "expect more now." Sounds like it'd work better if there's a clear rebirth/reopening of the store, etc.

Klinton: I agree, except IIRC I always hear the phrase as "Target. Expect more. Pay less" with an implitic colon between "Target" and the rest. So it sounds to me like the phrases are relativized to Target, rather than just about consumers in general. I could be remembering wrong, or misinterpreting periods/pauses as colons where I shouldn't be.

By: Klinton

Klinton — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 21:01:24 +0000

I always interpret this as "You should expect more [general good stuff from your hypermart] than you're currently expecting. You should pay less than you're currently paying. [To achieve both of these goals], you should come to Target." This definitely never gave me a second thought, semantically.

As for Blockbuster, it's a very dumb slogan. And Levitz.... wow, I haven't seen that but it's incredibly amazing.

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 06:32:11 +0000

Uh, compared to.

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 06:23:32 +0000

I tend to interpret this sort of advertising slogan as “… compared what you used to”, i.e. “Expect more (from us now than you used to expect from us)”.