Idiom is one of the components of modern Chinese vocabulary. It is not only the essence of Chinese, but also the treasure of China culture. Idioms have the special function of forming figures of speech and their own special attributes. This paper systematically sorts out the characteristics, sources, organs and other attributes of idioms, and expounds its application in modern advertising language, and extracts the basic principles of "flexible use of idioms" in advertising language, so as to provide theoretical reference for standardizing "flexible use of idioms" in advertising language and better displaying the application value of idioms in advertising.
Keywords: flexible use of advertising language idioms
In today's China, trade competition is becoming more and more fierce. The indecent concept of "the nose is not afraid of the depth of the alley" has long been replaced by the business creed of "the nose is also afraid of the depth of the alley". Confession has become a powerful weapon for businesses to seize the market, and it is increasingly showing its irreplaceable important position. As an effective propaganda material, the design of advertising case will inevitably affect the publicity effect of goods. However, in the design of colorful confession cases, the flexible use of idioms is undoubtedly a wonderful flower. Idioms, with their unique cultural attributes and commercial value of advertisements, are vivid, profound, novel and familiar, with the flavor of the times and classical flavor, and are deeply loved by countless businesses. However, the flexible use of idioms in advertisements does not always produce positive economic and social benefits. For various reasons, idioms are still abused in advertisements. This paper intends to systematically sort out the characteristics, sources, organs and other attributes of idioms, and explain their application in modern advertising language, and extract the basic principles of "flexible use of idioms" in advertising language, so as to standardize the "flexible use of idioms" in advertising language and better show the application value of idioms in advertising.
First, the phenomenon of "flexible use of idioms" in contemporary advertising language
In order to achieve the purpose of selling goods, the designers of advertising cases use the inevitable context, or directly use idioms, or abandon the overall meaning (figurative meaning) of the original idioms to restore them to the surface meaning, or change a word in the original idioms to create imitation idioms, so that the imitation "idioms" are close to the commodity information. This phenomenon is called "flexible use of idioms". Proper use of idioms in 1 can not only actively promote goods, but also increase the value of corporate image and bring rich returns to enterprises. For example, the confession case, Huali brand electric mosquito incense spray, the confession language of Huali brand electric mosquito incense spray is "silently dedicated to mosquitoes", and its creativity is: in a quiet night, the whole family is asleep, a small electric mosquito incense spray is quietly lit, and its continuous clean nasal spray makes abused mosquitoes annihilate one by one. With the help of lyrical pictures and warm atmosphere, the designer of the confession case vividly revealed the wind-induced and functional image of the electric mosquito-repellent incense spray "Silent Mosquito". The word "mosquito" replaces the word "smell", which expresses double information: advertising products have outstanding mosquito repellent function; The manufacturer of this product has the energy of silent dedication. The designers of advertising cases make full use of the contextual background, touch and induce customers' association with careful observation and unique feeling of infection, and stimulate customers' desire to buy electric mosquito-repellent incense spray. It not only created economic benefits for the enterprise, but also established the outstanding image of the enterprise, which is a successful confession case of flexible use of idioms. For another example, Wanbao Electric's air-conditioning advertisement uses the slogan "Live and work in peace". "Settle down" is made by imitating "settle down". In the vicinity of the pronunciation of "Le" and "Luo", the designer changed the word "Luo" to "Xi", which not only means that air conditioning is popular and has settled in many families, but also the product quality is excellent, which can bring happiness to thousands of households and leave a deep impression on consumers. In confession cases, appropriate "flexible use of idioms" can increase its icing on the cake effect. However, unreasonable "flexible use of idioms" may also suffer from the result of pulling out the seedlings to encourage them. For example, the advertising case of a paint product "erotic painting" originally meant "paint with good color", but once it is simplified to "erotic painting", it will make people feel very uncomfortable. Because "lewd" is a homonym of "lewd" in Chinese idioms, in China culture, "lewd" is derogatory and used to describe people who like and play with women. Such people have always been despised. Therefore, the designers of advertisements want to attract consumers' attention. As a result, not only did they not attract consumers to buy, but they were complained by many consumers. Finally, they were removed from the shelves by the industrial and commercial departments, which caused great economic losses to enterprises and made their image decline. Why did the propaganda method of "flexible use of idioms" in the confession case lead to such a fiasco? The primary reason is that the designer of the confession case is not solid enough in language knowledge, does not know enough about the cultural connotation of idioms and their fixed language forms, and misuses, abuses and mixes idioms or their fixed layout. Therefore, correctly grasping the material attributes of idioms is the basic premise of "flexible use of idioms" in advertising language.
Second, the material attributes of idioms themselves.
(1) Definition and characteristics of idioms An idiom is a fixed phrase with a written color. Idioms are fixed phrases formed by long-term use and tempering of language. It is a language unit with richer meaning than words, and its grammatical function is equivalent to words. It is rich in profound ideological connotation, short and incisive, easy to remember and use, and often has emotional color, including derogatory words, commendatory words and neutral words. Most idioms are four words, some are three words or more, and some idioms are even divided into two parts, separated by commas. The basic characteristics of idioms include the integrity of meaning and the solidification of layout. The wholeness of meaning means that idioms are different from ordinary fixed phrases in ideographic meaning, and their meanings are often not the simple sum of their component meanings, but the overall meanings further summarized on the basis of their component meanings. For example, "Smith", on the surface, means "the fox uses tiger's power", but in practice it means "persecuting people by relying on others' strength"; On the surface, Borrowing the Back of a Knife means "breaking the rice cooker and sinking into the boat", but in practice it means "making up your mind to go once". "Rare" means "the hair of the phoenix, the horn of the unicorn" on the surface, but actually means "such as extremely precious and rare talents and things", and so on. It can be seen that the practical meaning of idioms is holistic, hidden behind the superficial meaning, which is only a means to express the practical meaning. The solidification of idiom format lies in the general stereotype and solidification of idiom format. Its composition and layout are fixed, and it is not allowed to change the word order or add or subtract components. For example, "the road is long and its Xiu Yuan is awkward" cannot be changed to "the road is long and its Xiu Yuan is awkward" or "a long way to go"; "Outline" should not be changed to "outline, outline" or "outline-oriented", and so on. Idioms must abide by the solidified characteristics of their layout. (2) Idioms are fixed phrases or phrases that have been formed for a long time. They are simple in form and incisive in meaning, and most of them have existed since ancient times. Summarize its primary sources from four aspects: ① Myths and fables, such as Jingwei Reclaiming the Sea (Shan Hai Jing? Beishan Jing) and Gong Yuyi Mountain (Liezi? Tang Wen "); (2) historical stories, such as The One Piece Belongs to Zhao (Historical Records? Lian Po, Lin Xiangru biography) and "Yelang from the evening" (historical records? "Biography of Southwest Yi"); (3) Poetic statements, such as "give my life for justice" ("Mencius? Gao Zishang) and Old Horse Squat (Cao Cao's Walking Out of Xiamen); (4) Oral slang, such as "the ambition of one wolf, the mobility of one crowd, the responsibility of a thousand people", all come from ancient slang; "clean, three long and two short, do everything possible" and so on. , all from the vernacular of later generations. Among all kinds of idioms, some are direct quotations with the same meaning, and some are radical innovations with changed meanings. For example, "fighting with an open flame" was used in ancient times to describe people who are not afraid of power, dare to say and do things, have courage and resourcefulness, and are full of praise. Now the emotional color of "fighting with naked fire" has completely changed, and it is used to mean doing bad things openly and boldly. It can be seen that idioms can also change. (3) The basic pattern of organ idioms is "four-character", and there are some idioms that are not, such as "unwarranted", "lightning speed" and "donkey's lips are not right for horse's mouth", but most of them are four-character, with the following layout forms: ① parallel layout, such as "learning from each other" and "aboveboard"; (2) Partial layout, such as "Xanadu" and "Rising Star"; ③ Verb-object layout, such as "including Vientiane" and "taking care of the whole year"; (4) supplementary layout, such as "More important than Mount Tai" and "Escape from the French Open"; ⑤ Subject-predicate layout, such as "self-recommendation" and "letting a hundred flowers blossom"; In addition, there are linked layouts, such as "gild the lily, have it both ways"; Part-time layout, such as "open the door to rob, please enter the urn" and so on. This shows that the organs of idioms are also diverse. (4) The use of idioms is recognized as the treasure of national language because of its completeness of meaning, solidification of layout and harmony of melody. Idioms are concise, and through short forms, they permeate rich connotations. In the practice of language use, it fully shows the special functions of humor and vivid images. However, in the practice of using idioms, we should also pay attention to the following points: ① Understand the practical significance of idioms. For example, the practical significance of "better late than never" refers to finding ways to remedy mistakes in work. The practical significance of "cutting through thorns" refers to clearing obstacles and surrendering all kinds of hardships in the process of starting a business or on the way forward. For those idioms from historical stories, such as "serving the salary and tasting the courage" and "being attacked on all sides", it is helpful for us to understand the meaning of the whole break day more deeply and accurately. Some idioms are emotional, such as "deliberate" and "deliberate", the former has positive meaning and the latter has negative meaning, so we should carefully distinguish the difference between them when using them. Idiom is a solid layout, generally according to the prototype, and it is not allowed to change or add or subtract ingredients at will. It is not appropriate to change "mantis arm as a car" into "mantis car". Of course, in a specific language environment, idioms can also be used flexibly for rhetorical purposes. For example, "rushing back" is flexibly used as "rushing forward", which is a change of words and an imitation of antonyms; The flexible use of "aboveboard" means "aboveboard", which is an addition to words, making the past serve the present. These are different from the above random changes with no rhetorical effect. (3) Idioms have their definite shapes and pronunciations, so they must be clearly distinguished and must not be misspelled. The use and flexible use of idioms must follow the general principles of material attributes of idioms.
Third, the basic principles of flexible use of idioms in contemporary advertising language
In recent years, there have been a large number of confession cases of "flexible use of idioms" in society, but there are many failures. How to judge the difference between good and bad? This paper summarizes the basic principles of using the following idioms flexibly. (1) complies with laws and regulations. The flexible use of idioms in modern and contemporary advertising language must comply with the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on National Common Language and Characters promulgated by the state. In the process of using specific advertising language, it is necessary to ensure the standardization, standardization and healthy growth of the national common language, make the national common language play a better role in social life, and promote economic and cultural exchanges among ethnic groups and regions, and must not violate the moral and cultural cognition of the local society. (2) Energy characteristics in line with national culture. Idiom, as a treasure of national language, is also a part of China culture, and it must make continuous progress with the development of the times. But no matter how to keep pace with the times, we can't go against the cultural energy of the people. Every nation has its own hobbies and familiar idioms. Specifically, the nationality of idioms shows that each nation has its own regional characteristics and cultural traditions, and has different ways of thinking and speech expression from other nations. For example, some idioms that violate nationality, such as "lust" and "fantasy", have not been taken over by national culture. (3) Combined layout. When using idioms flexibly, it is best not to change the original syntactic layout of idioms, but to change the pronunciation and writing form of idioms as little as possible, which is natural and natural. But when necessary, we should strictly control the scale of a syllable or a word, let alone present sick sentences. In the writing of confession cases, it is worth promoting to use the idiom "new wine in old bottles" flexibly. This is a correct and vivid use of idioms, which does not change the form of idioms, but skillfully uses specific contexts to change the meaning of idioms, which meets the requirements of advertising creativity, may accurately express the intention of advertisements and has an implicit style. This not only has no negative influence on the semantics of idioms, but also makes idioms directly integrate into the fiery real life and gain new vitality. At the same time, it also brings personal interests and aesthetic pleasure to businesses and enterprises. For the flexible use of other forms of idioms, such as changing words or parody, the internal layout of the idioms after flexible use should be reasonable and cannot violate the original syntactic layout of the idioms. Otherwise, it may cause ambiguity. For example, in a case of clothing advertisement, "the name of clothes is amazing" imitates "blockbuster", which is the premise relationship layout in the complex sentence, and "the name of clothes is amazing" becomes the subject-predicate structure layout, meaning "the name of clothes will surprise people", which has no positive significance for promoting goods. Another example is "box", which is an imitation of "reason" and changes the original juxtaposition of two verb-object layouts into the juxtaposition of two middle layouts, with unclear meaning. Furthermore, the flexible use of idioms should pay attention to nature. For example, a cough medicine confession case says "cough can't be delayed", which is made by imitating "cough can't be delayed", both of which have timely and rapid significance. Cough should be treated in time, of course, and no delay is allowed. It is both truth and persuasion, natural and appropriate. However, in another confession case, "judge a person by his hat", the original idiom "judge a person by his appearance" means that people only look at his appearance, not his true colors, which is derogatory. After flexible use, it means to take people by "hat", which is also derogatory and difficult to convince the public. (4) Context. The flexible use of idioms in advertising language, whether it is the meaning of idioms themselves or the expressive meaning after flexible use, must be able to express advertising creativity accurately, skillfully and clearly. The creative context of confession is the basis of flexible use of idioms. Without the context that the designer wants to express, flexible use is tantamount to misuse. The basic purpose of the flexible use of idioms in advertising language is to vividly express the creative intention of the designer of the advertising case and let consumers obtain commodity information clearly and clearly. For example, the confession case of "silent dedication of mosquitoes". The designers of advertising cases actively grasp the function of electronic mosquito repellent and nasal spray products and combine the corporate culture energy of "obscurity and dedication". The flexible use of idioms is completely integrated with the creative context of advertising designers. Let consumers clearly and vividly understand the function and corporate culture of Huali brand electric mosquito spray, and achieve unexpected results. (5) qualified bureau. The flexible use of idioms in advertising language must pay attention to the writing, and the changing parts should be quoted. There are some people who support and some people object to the confession cases of "flexible idioms" which are popular in today's society for two reasons: ① The quality of some confession cases of "flexible idioms" is very poor, which violates the basic principles of flexible idioms; ② People are worried that the presentation of too many unqualified advertisements of "flexible use of idioms" will affect teenagers, mislead them to regard idioms as original idioms and disturb the standardization of Chinese learning. For the first point, the solution is to strengthen the standardized publicity of idioms in advertising language and enhance the language essence of the advertising case writing team. For the second point, the most important thing is to put quotation marks on the changed or added words. This has two functions: first, it attracts consumers' attention and is conducive to commodity promotion; The second is to put quotation marks to show the difference with the original idioms, to remind people not to mix them with the original words, and at the same time to avoid misleading teenagers to confuse the fake with the real, and to further learn the changed idioms as the original idioms.
4. Conclusion Idioms should not only pay attention to the integration of commodity characteristics and idiom connotation, but also follow the rules and regulations of advertisement operation and the basic principles of flexible use of idioms. While pursuing the creativity of confession, we should improve the artistic level of confession and make it achieve outstanding commercial, social and cultural benefits. Furthermore, if the designer of the advertisement case can master the skills of flexible use of idioms according to the needs and inevitable laws of creative expression of advertisements, it can prevent misuse and mixing, play the role of concise and vivid idioms, and better serve our society. Idioms are the quintessence of China's language and the treasure of China's culture, leading the way with their elegance, simplicity and unique charm. Its connection with contemporary commodities shows its unique charm, coupled with its huge benefits, which makes the idiom confession more deeply rooted in people's hearts and shows its exuberant vitality. However, how to standardize, accurately and skillfully integrate the cultural connotation of idioms with the characteristics of commodities remains to be further studied by the designers and linguists of the confession case.
When you give roses to others, the fragrance will stay in your hands.
Example:
Clothes and clothing (I) Don't give up-clothing advertising
Every mouth is a cup (monument)-alcohol advertisement.
One step to the stomach (position)-advertisement of stomach medicine
Enjoy cycling (it)- horse racing/motorcycle advertising
Baiyi Baishun-electric iron advertisement
Cook it (slightly) better-fast food restaurant advertisement
Take a bath at will (desire)-water heater advertisement
Leisure (wife and mother)-washing machine advertisement
Cough (urgent)-cough medicine advertisement
Big Stone Small, Small Stone Small —— Advertisement for Treating Stones Disease
A hundred words are worth a key (see)-printer advertisement
The advertising slogan of a cosmetics company in Hong Kong is: "freckle as soon as possible, don't leave acne."
A washing machine advertisement changed an idiom: "a idle wife and a good mother."
Audio company: "one call and four responses" and "a diversion".
Jiaozi Store: "All-inclusive".
Lime factory: "from scratch"
Pawnshop: "Well deserved".
Hat company: "clothes and hats bring people."
Sightseeing barber shop: "penniless"
1, Wrigley gum, love to use Wrigley (Wrigley gum advertising language)
2. Endless riding (a motorcycle slogan)
3, a bright and amazing (the slogan of an eye disease therapeutic instrument)
4. The name of the clothes is amazing (a clothing advertisement)
5, no stomach (a slogan of stomach medicine)
6. Be proud of drinking (a drinking slogan)
7. Taste local wine (wine advertising language)
8. Whole food beauty (hotel slogan)
9. Cough can't be delayed (a cough medicine advertisement)
10, Idle wife and good mother (advertising language of a washing machine)
1 1, silent mosquito (an advertisement for mosquito killer)
12, no inflammation in the mouth (advertised by a toothpaste)
13, 100 clothes and 100 clothes (a brand-name clothing advertising language)
14, attracting people into the store (banner of high-end hotel)
15, Wise men have different opinions (ancient bridge air conditioning advertising language)
16, surprise curtain (advertising language of Asian computer 3D animation system)
17, I didn't know Fule until I drank it.
18, Dashihua Small Petrochemical (Danshu Capsule Advertising Language)
19, six gods are taken, and the whole family has no worries (advertising slogan of toilet water with special effects of six gods)
20, stomach disease treatment with Sifang (Sifang stomach tablets advertising language)
2 1, China Telecom Trinidad Sound Edge (long-distance telephone advertising language)
22. Jiali-Wash away the dust along your way (a washing powder advertisement)
23. Hemorrhoids are not old (a slogan of hemorrhoid medicine)