DECORATIVE ENGLISH

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | 534 words | Copyright

DECORATIVE ENGLISH, also atmosphere English, ornamental English. Non—technical terms for English used as a visual token of modernity or a social accessory on items of clothing, writing paper, shopping bags, pencil boxes, etc., in advertising, and as notices in cafés, etc. The messages conveyed are ‘atmospheric’ rather than precise or grammatical, as in ‘Let's sport violent all day long’. Use of decorative English appears to centre on JAPAN, but has spread widely in East Asia and elsewhere.

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TOM McARTHUR. "DECORATIVE ENGLISH." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "DECORATIVE ENGLISH." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-DECORATIVEENGLISH.html

TOM McARTHUR. "DECORATIVE ENGLISH." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-DECORATIVEENGLISH.html

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