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“Nice” – its Etymology and Uses in Modern Advertising
Student: Ryan Paulsen
Course: ENG 230
Instructor: Martin Boyne
Due: Tuesday, February 24, 2004
The word ‘nice’ can, and does, have many different meanings and connotations in
its modern English usage. At times, it is sometimes used as simply a positive adjective,
i.e. “Nice work, Doug!” At other times, it can carry a somewhat negative connotation
implying naïvity and an overabundance of innocence. “She’s too……nice for me.” In still
other instances, the word can be used on it’s on in a purely celebratory way in response to
something good. “NICE!”
The earliest roots of the MnE word ‘nice’ can be traced back, surprisingly enough,
to the same source as those of the MnE word ‘science’. According to Origins: A Short
Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by Eric Partridge, words such as science,
omniscience, conscious, and conscientious all trace their histories back to the Latin word
“scire”, which means “to know.” (Partridge, 594) In Latin, the negative is often formed
by adding the prefix “ne-“ to the word. Thus “scire” becomes “nescire” meaning “to not
know.” This word form the root of the Latin word “nescius” meaning “ignorant.” It is
from this word that OF derived “nice” meaning either “ignorant” or “innocent.” ME then
took this word and conformed it into the English language to mean “foolish.” The word
then seems to take a semantic journey through which it acquires an abundance of
different interpretations. “Foolish, whence shy, hence discriminating (‘a nice taste in
literature’), hence agreeable, pleasant.” (Partridge, 594) Even in contemporary times, MF
was using the derivative “niceté” to mean “ignorance” or “folly” and ME was using it
with senses that paralleled those of the word “nice”
The OED notes that “the semantic development of this word from ‘foolish, silly’
to ‘pleasing’ is unparalleled in Latin or in the Romantic languages. The precise sense
development in English is unclear. N.E.D. (1906) s.v. notes that ‘in many examples from
the 16th and 17th cent. It is difficult to say in what particular sense the writer intended it to
be taken.” (OED – nice, a. and adv.)
For my look at the word “nice” as used in various forms of advertising, I chose to
not only examine ads from a disparate variety of modern sources, but also to look at
examples from ads publish in the past. This allowed me to consider not only such aspects
as target audience and the product being sold, but also the general attitudes of society at
the time, and to look at how those things affected advertising in general, and then the use
of my chosen word in specific.
The first advertising source that I chose to look at for a cross-section of
advertising was Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, no. 461, October, 1888. In addition to
literary criticism and various articles, this magazine also contained an entire section of
advertising. Through an examination of these pages of advertisements, one thing became
clear: the message was the essence. Likely due in part to higher printing costs and
complications, the adds at the very most featured a very simplistic picture as a minimum
compliment to the bulk of the ad, which was in most cases simply a detailed description
of the product in question. In this type of advertising forum, it was very difficult to find
the usage of any superfluous adjectives in the descriptions of the product, and seemingly
impossible to find an example of the word “nice.” At this point, advertising was about the
product, and it’s uses and functions. Very little emphasis is placed on wanting the product
compared to the emphasis put on why someone would need it. The common advertising
technique in this sample was actually quite reminiscent of a typical classified ad which
would appear in a daily paper, only these featured the occasional picture.
The second sample of an advertising vehicle that I selected was LIFE Magazine,
specifically an issue from November, 1950. By this time, advertising had developed quite
significantly, and now featured sprawling images and varying typefaces which lent an air
of sophistication and style to the ads. Apart from the obvious change of format through
which the ads are presented, the first thing that can be noticed is the shift of emphasis in
the advertisements themselves. Whereas in the late 19th century, the focus was on the
practical uses and benefits of the various products, in the middle of the 20th century, we
begin to find an increasing shift towards luxury and convenience, rather than necessity
and pragmatism. One ad in particular that jumped out was an ad for ladies nylon
stockings, where the tag-line was “Because you love nice things.” It is easy to imagine an
1888 ad for stockings expounding on the durability and comfort of the stockings, or their
value or long lasting nature, but in 1950 the first and foremost emphasis is on the idea
that they represent a desire for “nice things” and that the luxury of owning such nice
stockings is the centre of attention for the advertisers. The ad carried on to describe the
benefits of their stockings over others, and how the fit and comfort provided is
unmatched, but the uses of the product and the practical reasons behind their purchase
was clearly second-rate compared to the luxury and “niceness” of owning them.
The search for the use of the word ‘nice’ in modern-day advertising revealed
some extremely interesting information. The first bit of information that made itself
abundantly clear over the course of this venture is that advertising itself has changed
dramatically over the years. Flipping through a magazine today, you find yourself being
assaulted by a staggering array of visual messages, and the textual content of the ads is
exceptionally minimized. At times, you can even find an ad for a product that it distinct
enough that textual content is optional, and often absent. In a great many cases, especially
with clothing advertising, the ad relies on a photograph of the product and the brand
name off to one side, or in the corner. In other cases text plays a role, but it is definitely a
supporting one. An interesting thing to note is that more and more, advertising relies on
imagery to a degree that if you were to try to remove the pictorial aspect of the ad and
leave only the textual content, the ad would make no sense whatsoever. The reader would
be lost and the ad would be pointless. The implications of this information is staggering,
and seems to suggest that the decline of literacy and language is much further along than
anyone thinks, but that is an entirely different essay.
Secondly, and somewhat more on-topic, the word ‘nice’ seems to have all but
disappeared from the vocabulary of advertising and magazine publishing designers and
executives. It is incredibly hard to find the use of the word even in every day recreational
magazines (Sports Illustrated, Snowboard Magazine, Guitar World etc) and virtually
impossible in anything remotely resembling academic or intellectual publications (TIME,
Mcleans, Newsweek, Popular Science, etc). It even proved exceedingly difficult to find a
usage of the word in magazines that seem to possess a more public “nice” attitude and
image (Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping, Canadian Living, etc). Finally the quest reached
its goal in the pages of Canadian Living, however, the example there was not what you
might expect. The ad is for Instant Lottery Gift Packs from the OLGC, and features two
wrapped gifts, both identical except for the fact that one of them has a Lottery Gift Pack
tucked under the ribbon. There are quotes under each gift. Under the gift without the
Lottery Gift Pack: “That is so nice.” And under the gift with the Lottery Gift Pack: “That
is so nice. Maybe we can go to Paris this weekend?” The negative connotation of the
word ‘nice’ in this case is obvious to anyone who has ever opened an ornately wrapped
box of circa 1975 argyle socks as a Christmas present from an eccentric aunt. “That is so
nice” has become almost a catch-phrase, used when there really isn’t anything positive to
say, but politeness demands that you show appreciation. The word ‘nice’ has become a
cliché.
Perhaps the most startling thing that is revealed by all of this is that, whether it is
known to the average person or not, the word ‘nice’ has managed to almost come full
circle semantically. From its beginnings as a term with only negative connotations in both
Latin and French, it somehow managed to evolve into an ambiguous and flexible term
that could be applied with ease to either positive or negative ends. From there, it found
itself in a place where the majority of its use was for the positive side of things, to
describe refinement and developed sophisticated tastes and to be a signifier of things
generally wholesome. Now, when we look at the various examples of the term floating
around the MnE vocabulary, we can see that ‘nice’ seems to be sliding back into its role
as a chiefly negative adjective, one that at best can be used to positively describe childish
and simplistic things (IE the phrase ‘nice and easy’), but for the most part is just used in a
condescending or outright negative way. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for the
adjective/adverb ‘nice’ is fourteen printed pages long. In those fourteen pages, the word
has 42 definitions ascribed to it in its adjectival form, and 2 in its adverbial form. There
are also 6 examples of how it is used in proverbial phrases and expressions. Of the 42
adjectival definitions, 12 are outright negative, and there are others which could be
considered borderline depending on a person’s point of view. In any event, ‘nice’ is a
fascinating semantic development in and of itself, and seems to be an extremely
interesting window into the development of the modern English language, and those who
use it.