The Simple Precision Of Language.
Posted on October 6th, 2010
Do you know how to read musical notation? If you do, you know that when you’re reading music you’re actually reading at least two things simultaneously. Written music tells you what note to play and when to play it.
Written language, on the other hand, only tells you one thing – what letter to pronounce. Of course, punctuation helps indicate pacing – pause at a comma, stop at a period, I’m not really sure what to do at a semicolon – but it’s still up to the reader to interpret how the author wanted the piece paced.
For example, read the following sentences aloud and place the emphasis on the underlined word. You’ll see how the pacing, and the meaning, can change based on where you choose to place the emphasis.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
I didn’t say you should leave now.
Music notation is not like that. The composer provides the note to play, the time signature to play it in, the exact time each note should be played, the way the note should be attacked and the volume with which the note should be played. That’s why an entire orchestra can play a piece of music simultaneously and get it mostly right on their first reading. Of course the conductor can add flavorings and nuance, as can each player, but the basic structure still provides instructions for every part of the composition.
At the same time, musical notation has a way to allow the musician to add his or her own ideas, or improvisation, to the piece. Here the composer might suggest what the musician should play but also provides for the instrumentalist to create their own music and explore their own musical ideas by playing what they feel, and hopefully, what fits into the structure of what the rest of the ensemble is playing.
Ironically, written language, which doesn’t put nearly the same restraints on interpretation of prose, has no such flexibility. Sure, a rabbi or minister might halt their liturgical reading to allow parishioners to riff on a theme (they call it private mediation) but when was the last time you were reading a novel and the author inserted a few blank pages for you to add your own thoughts? There’s no room for readers to add their own words to a written piece.
That’s why sarcasm and irony seldom works well in print or static online advertising. It’s one thing for the copywriter to add their own inflection to a headline when they present it to a client but it’s quite another to expect a reader to add that same emphasis. Instead, the language of ads must be clear, simple, and to the point. Hopefully this will cause an emotional response without depending on a specific interpretive performance from the reader.
Imagine if Gershwin had e-mailed the lyrics of his famous song to his manager:
“You like potato and I like potato,
You like tomato and I like tomato,
Potato, potato, tomato, tomato,
Let’s call the whole thing off.”
Say what? Call the whole thing off just because we use the same words? Clearly something was lost in the transmission.
Remember Gershwin when you’re writing to be understood and when you’re writing to be influential. Your reader most certainly won’t read your text the way you want them to; instead they’ll bring their own pacing, emphasis and meaning to your words. To build your brand value it’s important that your intention be so clear that your audience will internalize it no matter how they pace their reading.
By writing simply and clearly, the results of their interpretation will be music to your ears.
14 thoughts on “The Simple Precision Of Language.”
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By Bruce Turkel
Music to my ears – and some clarity to my words.
Thanks Bruce. Come to think of it, that works in almost every situation. If I had a penny for every time I’ve had to rewrite a note for my 2-year-old teacher, only to end up making it more concise the next day because she didn’t get it the first time… Next time, I’ll write the note as if I were writing an ad.
Nice piece Bruce…loved your metaphor comparing writing music and writing copy.
Will be sure to pass it on to my tribe that needs to read it.
Wow, a message just for me.
Jazz musicians are free to choose from 5 notes for each of Gershwin’s written ones. Similarly, there are children’s books that allow for blank spaces in the story to be filled in. http://www.thisnext.com/tag/fill-in-the-blank-book/
The true value of the written word is not derived from the intent of the author; it is derived from the thoughts it generates in the reader.
BTW, that was a semi-colon and I don’t believe that you don’t know when to use one.
Excellent analogies. Word choice is very important especially living in a multicultural society.
I remember driving by a bus shelter in Hialeah and seeing a poster for Denny’s Restaurants. I was driving by so quickly I only had time to recognize the logo and read the headline “De Pie”. I drove off wondering what the hell that was all about. Was it a reference to Hervé Villechaize from Fantasy Island? De plane? De pie? I know they have Mother Butler pies, but wasn’t clear on the ad.
I drove by slowly the next day and realized the ad was in Spanish. “De Pie” means to stand or stand up!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tim Keenan, Hélène Janover. Hélène Janover said: RT @UNnouncer: "The Simple Precision of Language." Powerful blog post by @BruceTurkel. http://bit.ly/aAqy7W [...]
Yes, but as all good lyricists do the sheet music stated it like this: You like potato and I like po-tah-to,You like tomato and I like to-mah-to;Potato, po-tah-to, tomato, to-mah-to…
Simply put… Great piece and great thoughts BT. Thanks for the reminder.
Yeah, right. I’ve heard that before.
No, wait, I didn’t mean it that way…
I especially enjoyed this one…it also reminded me that the Gershwin story is also told in this way: There was an open audition to some off broadway show, where the people trying out were handed the lyrics, and had to sing it/sight read it immediately without rehearsing it. The woman auditioning was not familiar with the “potato” song and sang it without the varying accents -and at the end of the audition, they said to her “Thank you very much Ms. Epstein (pronouced Ep-STEEN)” and she replied “It’s Ep-STINE”
Hi Bruce:
Another winner. Your postings read like a good novel – draw the reader in, a little bit of mystery (and musical romance) and then the bottom line. Thanks
Helen
FOR ALL OF YOU WHO ARE LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS):-
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>
>
>1. A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.
>
>2. A will is a dead giveaway.
>
>3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
>
>4. A backward poet writes inverse.
>
>5. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
>
>6. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
>
>7. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
>
>8. You are stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it.
>
>9. He broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
>
>10. A calendar’s days are numbered.
>
>11. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
>
>12. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
>
>13. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium
>at large.
>
>14. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the
>end.
>
>15. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
>
>16. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
>
>17. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she’d
>dye.
>
>18. Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
>
>19. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
>
>20. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.
>
>21. The roundest knight at king Arthur’s round table was Sir
>Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
>
>22. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned
>out to be an optical Aleutian.
>
>23. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
>
>24. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because
>it was a weapon of math disruption.
>
>25. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be
>stationery.
>
>26. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for
>littering.
>
>27. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
>
>28. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are
>looking into it.
>
>29. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
>
>30. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
>
>31. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the
>Grass.’
>
>32. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
>When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said,
>’No change yet.’
>
>33. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a
>seasoned veteran.
>
>34. Don’t join dangerous cults: practice safe sects.
>
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How many of us has been misunderstood while sending an email correspondence? I have offended friends on a couple of occasions, usually in the realm of political “back-and-forth” because my attempts at sarcasm fell flat. I understood me just fine, but that other person wasn’t quite on the same page. If you are advertising on the ‘Net, as Bruce has cautioned, be very careful.
p.s. George or Ira?
so many loves, so little time…all my loves…words, music, and the Gershwins…ooo la la!
I see so many patients who rely on the written (emailed) word, vs. the spoken, to family, lovers, professors, and they wonder why they are always being misunderstood. I ask them to forward the emails to me, and the evidence is always clear…nuances, subtleties, humor, tenderness, intention…all unclear.
keep up the good work…always food for thought.
best,
Paula