Accidental Verbal Beauty: I’m paying with Visa. The heavy-accented teen-ager behind the counter says, “Chip your card.”
As I stuck my card in the chip reader, I thought about it for a sec, and realized that he had discovered the most efficient, elegant — though ungrammatical — way to communicate the desired imperative. An impressive display of economy or words.
I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Example: at Subway, the commonly accepted phrase throughout the Lower Mainland is now, “Would you like toasted?” But this is not as successful. Sure, you may save a single syllable, but it comes at a higher cost. After all, it is a phrase that a sandwich artist is saying dozens of time in any shift. You’d think you’d nail it after a while.
But “Chip your card.” That’s different. That’s upper echelon. That’s accidental verbal beauty. ♦
