Dead Metaphor in Selected Advertisements in Nigerian Dailies : Socio-Linguistic and Pedagogical Dimensions

Abstract

Dead metaphors and images are often enlivened and empowered by advertisers to help their commUlzication and to achieve bewitching effects. It is interesting to see words and phrases that may be presumed to have been drained of their linguistic strength being brought back to currency and made to act fast in aiding comprehension and retention. Illustrating with pieces of 'dead ' language resuscitated, whose effects would otherwise have threatened prospectively exciting communication, this essay discusses advertisement in Nigerian newspapers. The paper demonstrates that the linguistic resourcefulness of advertisers is not inferior to that of poets and that severe communication exigencies put enormous pressure on the linguistic resources of the practitioners of both professions. The conclusion is that ill studying the use of English in Nigeria we cannot afford to ignore the place of English in advertisements in particular and the mass media in general. The paper also draws attentioll to the pedagogical implications of the above findings.