Tag Archives: humour

Hats off to Wusthof

Just received a response to my tear-soaked email to Wusthof after a giant cauliflower did for my favourite kitchen knife:

“All Wusthof items carry a limited lifetime warranty….Please note we do not cover returns for knives that have opened cans, pruned hedges or those that have not been used for their general suited purpose.”

‘opened cans, pruned hedges’ is excellent! Good to see humanity beginning to sprout in communication between companies and their customers.

Tribal alliteration

During a lively discussion with my daughter – currently doing A levels in both English & Philosophy – around how words have meanings, and what determines the meanings they have (“the meaning of a word is its use in the language” – Wittgenstein), as well as the fact that words have not just meanings but connotations, associations – how they broadcast (or betray) social standing and the like, I grabbed some coriander from the fridge, to discover:

Waitrose

“Potent, pungent and particularly pretty coriander crowns a curry.”

“That,” I said, “is the voice of a brand with confidence. A brand that knows exactly who its target audience is, and is relaxed enough to address them in a very singular tone of voice. They’re not actually conveying information about coriander. What they’re doing is having a bit of fun with the language, playing with alliteration, and effectively saying to their customers ‘this is fun, isn’t it? We know you’ll appreciate this (like we do) because you’re educated, literate, and have a sense of humour. You’re a Waitrose person”

“One of the family.” said my daughter.

“Precisely!”