Where The Word 'Slogan' Came From And What It Means

Many times in our everyday lives, we use words despite knowing their exact meaning or where they came from. One such common word is slogan. During this period of Lok Sabha elections, slogans are a very common thing that we come across. All parties, including the BJP and Congress, are creating different types of slogans and attacking each other. But have you ever wondered where this word slogan came from?

According to a report in Metro, the commonly used word slogan was not coined in India. This is a word from Ireland or the Irish language. The word slogan is derived from Slughorn, which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic and Irish sluagh-ghairm (sluagh ‘army’, ‘host’, and gairm ‘cry’). Generally, this word is used for people who talk loudly in an ‘army’ or ‘crowd’. The word now has the same meaning in Irish and Scots Gaelic as it does in English.

Slogan:

A slogan is a catchy phrase or motto that is repeated to convey a concept or objective in a clan, political, commercial, religious, or other setting to influence the general public or a more specific target group. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines a slogan as “a short, striking, or memorable phrase used in advertising”. The basic characteristic of a slogan is to be catchy, easy to remember and visually appealing to the target audience.

Usage:

The original usage refers to the usage as a clan motto among Gaelic armies. In the US and the UK, marketing slogans are frequently referred to as taglines or straplines, whereas the words baselines, signature, claims, and pay-offs are used by Europeans.

Slogans are mainly used to convey a message regarding the product, service, or cause that they represent. It may be composed as a song or have a melodic quality. Slogans are also often used to capture the attention of the audience they are trying to reach. If the slogan is used for commercial purposes, it is often written to be memorable or catchy for a consumer to associate the slogan with the product it is representing. The main purpose of slogans is to catch the audience’s attention and influence the consumer’s thoughts on what to purchase. Companies use slogans to influence consumers’ perceptions of their products concerning other competitors.