Everything is Awesome! LOL! :)

No no - am not going to launch a learned discourse a la pedagogical pop BBC style on the Lego Movie titular song, but just wanted to wax a bit about the oft bandied/espoused/uttered/exclaimed adjective: AWESOME!

It has come into increasingly commonplace speak  and messaging   fall back protocol  in this day and age, joining the likes of LOL , et al.

Where even if  it wasn't funny, or even remotely humorous, LOL has been used  ad nauseam, perhaps even as a wry chuckle/even a way of proffering, post facto, an ever so slightly embarrassed  positioning of what was said or transmitted before. worse still , it is used as a response to give delsuions to teh poor hapless comedian wannabe.

It's like someone saying something that one may not have thought to much about, and then attributing a LOL to it as if to say - " ok, I said it, but it's kinda a joke and if you take it seriously, I am possibly saying it's all in jest".....it sorta gives the fake laughing guy a way out , a way to diffuse what may not be so genuine after all.... So LOL has  oft been misused, instead of  signifying the wild gaffaws it describes ,  and which I am indubitably sure, originally intended to sound out..after all, for crying out loud, it's LAUGH OUT LOUD! LOL. Ok - but that's totally another story. I truly digress.

Now what really  is AWESOME all about? One could easily have described something as good, great, fantastic..or my fav S'porean colloquialism: Wahhhhh! But isn't AWESOME something that lends itself to a really big deal/ something if  truly and thoughtfully proffered as a response would envisage trappings of an incredibly favourable, congratulatory sentiment?

Alas, it's just as bastardized today, with that adjective used without much thought. One is just so used to praise for the sake of praising , speak just to hear one's own voice and not really listen, cast  feel good expletives in social speak as it just smooths out supposedly everything but signifying nothing??

It surely rolls off the glib tongue used to butter everything  as long as all is good and it oils the social needs of validation/endorsement/seeming support and gets things going on an imagined even keel. But surely this has relegated itself to meaningless compliments or knee jerk response to everything and anything!

Everything is awesome. So what if there are some things that aren't really at all, by a larrrrrgge margin? Oh - easy, for those bits, we bring in the other abused response and just say; LOL, and buy ourselves some cover from really communicating what we feel. But then again - there's really not  enough time for that and too much effort is needed to craft a proper response.

Let's all take some precious time to listen and respond accordingly, if truly we wish to communicate better.
it has been said some listen to understand, others listen to retort...or worse still, can't wait to just shoot back a meaningless "Awesome' or "LOL" just to  show that u have gainfully replied/responded/shot back your salvo in the social discourse of life. I am guilty of LOLing away when there is nothing much to say and my glib fast fingers just hazard that meaningless guffaw.

Next - what we really mean by  the emoticon" :)" . Awesome right? LOL ! :) ok..or maybe not......

What Moves Us to Do things

INERTIA as an existing State of Rest is what we have oftentimes. And to get started; indeed to get up and going takes a fair bit of effort to change the status quo. A body at rest stays at rest....truly one of the Newtonian laws. I suppose that  truism can be extrapolated to cover the stasis state of our mind and explain its attendant actions or inactions.

So we procrastinate, or are wont to make decisions that change tacks or set  new courses unless and until we are forced to by changing circumstance; or by our own inner volition that has thought out the process and deemed  the effort worthwhile, and  only then we make that conscious decision to do that thing. The status quo is too often bandied as a rest point of procrastination to anything that may better our lot.

It could be anything from buying into a new brand,  walking off the beaten path into a new shop, to having to see through many decisions that we may and can make in the course of our daily lives.

As consumers, the world presents infinite possibilities and probabilities that assail us with many decisions big and small...a mobius strip of a smorgasbord  of so many offshoots that can lead from one eventuality to the next and around the whole circle it goes again in never ending consumerism and self aggrandisement.

What makes us loyal to a particular brand, what pushes us to try something new; what changes or recalibrates our perceptions? What promises pleasure in the process, rewards us with perceived or imagined benefits..is it all marketing hype and the buy in is just all part of a big exercise in PR and one upmanship?

It  is useful to understand what motivates us and causes us to do things. In the context of this blog discussion, we look more particularly  at what motivations whether relational or transactional that affect our buying:

1. Basic needs. 
2. Convenience. 
3. Replacement. 
4. Scarcity. 
5. Prestige or aspirational . 
6. Emotional vacuum. 
7. Lower prices. 
8. Great value. 
9. Name recognition. 
10. Fad or innovation. 
11. Compulsory ..
12. Ego stroking. 
13. Niche identity.
14. Peer pressure. 
15. Reciprocity or guilt. 
16. Empathy.
17. Addiction.
18. Fear.
19. Indulgence. 

Rhetorik & the Corithian Column

RHETORIK

The ART & Science of Persuasion

 ETHOS PATHOS LOGOS

In GOOD COPY

We  should all equip ourselves  with the power of rhetoric:  the ability to find all available means of persuasion in any instance.

It is the the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of what would appeal to ethos, pathos and logos...the customs , emotions and logic of how we respond to what we read and hear.

A good proponent can use this skillset to inform, persuade, or motivate others to influence their beliefs, attitudes, intentions , motivations and behaviour – to a desired outcome or action.  This is important in business as it is personal dealings.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle calls it "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”.

Corinthian order

The most ornate of the three main orders of classical Greek architecture, characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate bell-shaped capital decorated with acanthus leaves. Rhetorik has chosen this visual to represent its classical leanings and beauty in the written and spoken language.

Rhetorik - a new business is born!

RHETORIK

The  ART and SCIENCE of Persuasion

We  should all equip ourselves  with the power of rhetoric:  the ability to find all available means of persuasion in any instance. It is the the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of what would appeal to logos, pathos and ethos...the logic, emotion and customs. A good proponent can use this skillset to inform, persuade, or motivate others to influence their beliefs, attitudes, intentions , motivations and behaviour – to a desired outcome or action.  This is important in business as it is in personal dealings and can apply in any endeavour where an audience is sought on the spoken or written word.

Middle English rethorik, from Old French rethorique, from Latin rhtoric, rhtorica, from Greek rhtorik (tekhn), rhetorical (art), feminine of rhtorikos

As a young brand  and copywriting consultancy we  aspire to help companies  create powerful  copy to effectively and persuasively showcase the company’s services and products. 

     

We  will and can consult on a diverse range of strategic and integrated copy writing projects for corporate, consumer and retail  set ups starting from the local scene and beyond. The range of industries  may include  financial services , interior design,  spas, sports and medical companies ; retail and consumer products.

We are also interested in ghost writing which basically puts the effort on us to come up with spirited  (ok - couldnt  resist the pun) script whilst you  feed us with your spectral visions. 

We get into your mind and flesh out the ideas in living breathing text  that captures all that you had thought of, and then some. We endeavour to understand your ideas and dreams and hopes in what you wish to lay down for posterity in the written word...  this is as much a collaborative effort and one where good and effective communication is important to ensure we get everything out.

MORE on what we can do later!

Why RHETORIK?

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the capability of writers or speakers that attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. 

Its best known definition comes from Aristotle, who considers it a counterpart of both logic and politics, and calls it "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”. 

The three main means of persuasion and appeals  are codified as:

ethos pathos logos

Here at RHETORIK we advocate this art of language as a medium  to effectively and persuasively appeal to the credible, emotional and logical attributes of a good copy. Not mere rhetoric  that is bombastic,  full of contrived significance, ornamentally pretentious and  vacuous, but rhetoric grounded as it was by  ethos, pathos and logos.

The Medium is The Message

Explanatory Notes:

Ethos (Credibility) means convincing by the character of the author in the perception of the company or product or service we are writing about. The task here is to project an impression to the reader that this is something worth looking at. Ethos (Greek for 'character') refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker. This is often conveyed through tone and style of the message and through the way the writer or speaker refers to differing views.

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how emotional appeals are used to persuade. This is the 'appeal to the audience's sympathies and imagination.' An appeal to pathos causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify with the writer's point of view. The most common way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narrative which fleshes out abstractions of logic into tangibles. The values and  beliefs of the writer are implicit in the copy and should  move the audience to decision or action.

Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This involves deductive and inductive reasoning. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation and contemporaneously  there should be clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence.

 [The above text drawn in part from Ramage, John D. and John C. Bean. Writing Arguments. 4th Edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1998, 81-82.] http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/polis/courses021/ENGL_102-78/EthosPathosLogos

 Please contact us at rupert.ongct@gmail.com or rhetorika@hotmail.com  for a no obligation  discussion. We would love to hear from you and help your business grow.