Hayakawa It! Mr. Eisner August 28, 2019

“Abstractions” Generalizations, big ideas, non-specific terminology. In writing, abstractions are best avoided. Abstractions leave the reader guessing, wondering, unclear. Abstractions leave the writer unsure, non-specific, and lacking control over argument.

S.I. Hayakawa

Hayakawa Canadian-born American Academically: linguist, psychologist, semanticist, teacher, writer Japanese ancestry Professor of English President at SFSU US Senator from California (1977-1983)

Ladder of Abstraction Level Four: Abstractions Examples: life, beauty, love, time, success, power, happiness, faith, hope, charity, evil, good. FOOD

Ladder, Continued… Level Three: Noun classes: broad group names with little specification. Examples: People, men, women, young people, everybody, nobody, industry, we, goals, things, television. VEGETABLES

Ladder, Continued… Level Two: Noun categories: more definite groups. Examples: teen-agers, middle-class, clothing industry, parents, college campus, newborn child, TV ,comedies, house plants. POTATOES

Ladder, Continued… Level One: Specific, identifiable nouns. Examples: Levi 501 jeans, my blue, three bedroom house on Hollis Street, In Living Color, Bud commercials, African violets, Tina's newborn sister, Mina. POTATO CHIPS *This is the level that you should be aiming for in your writing. It’s okay to use abstractions, but if you don’t specify, your argument is weak.

An Example This paragraph needs to be Hayakawa’d: “The speaker persuades the audience because he/she uses pathos, ethos, and logos to reach the audience. The audience may feel sad for the person or scared about it happening to them. They give straight forward facts that smoking causes throat/ lung cancer as seen in the image. Also he gets his facts from the CDC which is a very trusted company.” Can you tell why? Where are the level 4,3, & 2 abstractions?

A Better Example “In this advertisement, the speaker is someone associated with the CDC or the US Department of Health. This establishes their credibility since this is a government organization. The purpose of this ad is to discourage current and potential smokers from smoking and thereby damaging their bodies. They convey this by showing a man who was affected by cancer which was a direct result of his smoking. The speaker is trying to convey this message to current and potential smokers, as well as people associated with people who smoke. This image impacts the audience using fear by showing the results of smoking on your body. The person depicted in the ad is doing an ordinary task and is humanized by giving his name, age, and current place of living to give the ad a sense of familiarity. This adds to the fear facts by showing this can happen to anyone you know, including yourself. By doing this, the speaker is hoping to reduce the smoking rate nationally.”

A Superior Example The CDC, a department of the US government responsible for research and dissemination of national health studies, published a public service announcement targeting current and potential smokers in an effort to dissuade them from smoking and inform them of the potential health consequences. The image depicts Shawn, aged 50, a “former smoker” and 4-year survivor of throat cancer from Washington state, and his stoma (displayed front and center). The tagline sarcastically reads, “BE CAREFUL NOT TO CUT YOUR STOMA.” The audience cringes at the horror of a bleeding stoma. In this cutting remark, the speaker calls out those who wish to ignore the fact that “smoking causes immediate damage to your body.” The direct, menacing look upon Shawn’s face indicates that Shawn can never reverse his mistake, but there is support (1-800-QUIT-NOW). Overall, the image plays not only upon the audience’s fears, but on a subtextual level, its in-your-face tone screams, Don’t be an idiot! “You [should] quit.”