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Why Ice Cream Sounds Fat and Crackers Sound Skinny
- ttty 12y agoOnce I've found a paper studying the brand names and how to create new ones that feels right and communicates the image you want.
- tmmm 12y agoYes, those were some fun times.
- spion 12y agoInteresting. Given the questions: Which brand of laptop seems bigger, Detal or Dutal? Which brand of vacuum cleaner seems heavier, Keffi or Kuffi? Which brand of ketchup seems thicker, Nellen or Nullen? The first question may have affected the answers to the others. "Dutal" may trigger an association chain "Duty" -> "Heavy Duty" -> "Large", and then naturally all the other answers should be consistent with that one. Is there a mechanism scientists use to defend against such a "snowballing" effect?
- lanna 12y agoYes, ask the questions in random order
- Mimu 12y agoI am litterally unable to answer any of these questions. I just can't, my brain doesn't respond, it's like asking me to say something in a language I know nothing about.
- tracker1 12y agoInteresting.. could be a method of consumer testing for product naming for a new (made up word). Depending on the product, you may want it to seem heavier.
- uberalex 12y agoDoes Frozen yogurt follow this logic? It seems like a harder sounding word might imply the health effects
- LesZedCB 12y agoI actually have the opposite reaction in a way. When I hear ice cream in my head, I hear something like Julie Andrews saying it, and it sounds sweet and light. With cracker it has a thick American accent and sounds harsh and dense. I am from the US.
- pera 12y agoThe same here. And as you, English is not my first language.
- viewer5 12y agoWhat do you mean by "thick American accent"?
- EC1 12y agoProbably means a Southern accent.
- atwebb 12y agoOdd, I'm Southern and thought he meant Northern...
- duaneb 12y agoWhat exactly is a northern accent? Is that a midwest accent crossed with a new england accent crossed with a new jersey accent?
- nervousvarun 12y agoSoutherner here: A "northern accent" classically means any accent from the larger northeastern cities. Boston, Jersey, they're all subsets of "northern" to the Southern brain. What's funny is I live in Nola and the traditional New Orleans "Yatty" accent sounds "northern" to me (somewhere in Brooklyn to be specific).
- 12y ago
- porker 12y agoI wonder how much pronunciation affects the results. Given their questions: Which brand of laptop seems bigger, Detal or Dutal? Which brand of vacuum cleaner seems heavier, Keffi or Kuffi? Which brand of ketchup seems thicker, Nellen or Nullen? In British English I only chose the 'u' for the second question (the first by association - Detal = metal). How would US Americans pronounce these?
- stronglikedan 12y agoDeh-tal, Doo-tal, Keh-fi, Kuh-fi, Neh-len, Nuh-len
- joshuahedlund 12y agoAs an outsider, the uncited studies sound suspiciously like the sort of thing that is guaranteed to generate statistically significant values with enough iterations...
- Vraxx 12y agoHmmm, I don't think I saw any other languages besides Spanish and English, is this really a universal effect across languages? I am especially curious because I am inclined to believe that certain sounds are not distributed the same in all languages. This could mean that either this theory is untested on a broader set of languages, or that the typical vernacular in a language tends to avoid a certain type of word more than other languages.
- pg_is_a_butt 12y agoice cream doesn't sound fat. crackers don't sound skinny. you're all idiots, and stanford is queen idiot.