Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Just Can't Let This One Go

I don't often get my panties in a bunch over trivial matters, but this one I just can't leave alone. Have you seen the new round of Zyrtec commercials? If you haven't, let me enlighten you: attractive woman talking about allergies...some people have indoor allergies, some have outdoor allergies, and some people, "like me!" she gushes, have BOTH! BTW - I'm guessing all these Zyrtec ads are now about the fact that Zyrtec is now available without a prescription, but I digress. Anyway, she goes on and talks some shop about how it's all wonderful, and then she concludes with the statement that because she can now control both her indoor and outdoor allergies, she's now "Free-er to do what I want". Ummm. Free-er? As in, more free? I write it like free-er, because otherwise it looks like freer, pronounced frear, but you get my point. Is there such a word? How can you be more free? This bothered me for weeks - everytime I saw the ad. So I looked it up. Sure, free-er, or freer is a word, but it's a noun. One who frees. I couldn't find another usage for it, besides just the word free itself, which is an adjective - which, if they meant it that way, wasn't used as an adjective the way she said it.

No, I'm not an English professor, and I don't go around correcting people's grammer, and I'm certainly not a stickler for perfect speech around the house - ain't that right? But c'mon. This got through the writers, the editors, the Zyrtec people, all the people on the set, and at the very end, the chick who actually SAYS it. Nobody questioned this? Nobody questioned whether there's a state of freedom that exists beyond the usual state? You're free. Items at the market are free. If the manager sees this isn't working, nobody is taking these free items, does he hang a new sign to say that they are now FREER?

C'mon Zyrtec. I'm not impressed. But I'll reserve too much judgement, after all, like I said, the English language is complex and I could be completely wrong here, and if I am, feel FREE or FREER to let me know.

1 comment:

C.S. said...

Wow! Your time sure is a lot
free-er than mine! Hee Hee! Don't hit me!