The difference between rubbish and nonsense may be moot in illiterate circles but is never for lovers of Lewis Carroll. With each new radio advert I hear about a Medical Scheme, whose name I cannot recall! - my outrage grows.
Their positioning is right enough – trash the other medical aid suppliers by suggesting that like Carroll’s timeless words from the Alice stories, competitor claims are nonsense. Nonsense would have been the perfect choice as it was part of Carroll’s genius to create words and phrases that were evocative yet indefinable.
I am almost tempted to approach the ASA about this one – given that, in my opinion, most of the complaints they handle are nonsense anyway.
A copy writer quoting Carroll should know better:
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Dismissing Jabberwocky as nonsense is as Carroll would like liked it but, as rubbish, suggests a puerile brain that doesn’t care to understand the difference between the two.
