Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A Road Kill on the Linguistic Highway

I just saw this copy on the side of a supply truck that belonged to Hair Cuttery:

"change your hair, change in your wallet"

Ouccchhh!

This could easily go into the textbooks as a perfect example of how to write BAD copy.

It is an excellent example of UNPARALLEL STRUCTURE.

If you start one clause with a VERB ("to change"), continue also with a verb in the second clause and do not shift to a NOUN ("change in your wallet").

Every time I see such crooked copy it's like getting punched in the face.

What was wrong with this, I wonder:

"change in your hair, change in your wallet"