Wherever you turn in Ad Land nowadays, some innocent modifier is being shamelessly nouned. Here’s today’s example: Mr. More, Embassy Suites’ “embassador,” in a recent ad for the hotel chain.
According to a press release, Mr. More is “a quirky ‘bleisure’ (business + leisure) traveler who’s always looking for ‘more of more’ and ‘less of less’.”
(And no, Embassy Suites didn’t invent “bleisure”: The word-blend started showing up in the UK a few years ago and is being used by at least one New York hotel that isn’t Embassy Suites.)
The Embassy Suites campaign started in 2012, a leap year, with the theme “366 Days of More.” (The campaign ended last week.) Nounified more also showed up in “our insane devotion to always giving you more of more” and “a more-tastic amount of more.” The ads were directed by Roman Coppola, son of Francis Ford.
Now, more, like good, is sometimes a real noun, as in “The more you read the more you know.” Note the definite article, though. Embassy Suites’ more isn’t that kind of more; it’s a nounified modifier.
The insurance company Safeco has it both ways with more:
"It’s like a museum. I’m afraid to touch anything.”
The tagline in these ads is “Some people want more out of life. We insure the things that make more possible.” “More out of life” is an idiom that functions as a noun (the object of want); while in make more possible, more functions as “moreness.” Or maybe “more more-tastic moreness.” Who knows.
Watch more Safeco spots at AdWeek.
(Hat tip to Ben Yagoda for the Safeco ad.)
The word-blend thing started, for me at least, with the UK TV comedy 'Look Around You', a creation of Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowiz, which parodied a certain type of educational programme. The blended word in this sketch was soon heard in playgrounds and offices all over the country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk
Posted by: Bravenewmalden | March 06, 2013 at 08:44 AM
This got me thinking about "the more the merrier." As we all know, the implied meaning is "the more [people], the merrier [the occasion or whatever]." What is the function of "more" in this context?
Always love your posts...
Posted by: patricia | March 06, 2013 at 12:44 PM
I wouldn't take the "the" in "The more you read the more you know" as evidence that "more" is functioning as a noun. Compare "The longer I live the more I know" or "The more you complain the longer God lets you live". Surely "longer" is not a noun in either of these. (I think.)
Posted by: empty | March 06, 2013 at 05:38 PM
Empty: According to the OED, "more" functions as a pronoun in "the more you know."
Posted by: Nancy Friedman | March 06, 2013 at 05:57 PM
I'm still stuck on "bleisure," which reads "blessure" - wound (the flesh type) in French - to me.
Posted by: Jessica | March 07, 2013 at 06:27 AM