Ginis Chronicles: Auckland Adventure

For this instalment I would like to present a little story to illustrate the importance of clarity and the written word.

The other day I was walking through the streets of downtown Auckland and saw an ad on the side of a building. This ad covered the width of the building (20m-30m) and must have been 15 stories high...needless to say it was big. Its size made me look up into the rain; but something else captured my interest.

The ad was for a bank, here in Auckland - The National Bank. The background was a base of green that resembled wet, healthy grass. On the ad was a horse, a thoroughbred horse to be exact. It looked majestic; head raised, one hoof in the air as if it were in mid stride, very poetic. Then I read the caption, "The thoroughbred among Banks." I did a double take and read it again... "The thoroughbred among Banks." In that instant I had a mental picture of a horse running rampant through a series of banks. I smiled, and shook my head and continued off into the perpetual Auckland rain.

Later, on recalling the event to Kathleen, I realised that by using the word, 'The' at the start, the caption was telling me, and the rest of Auckland, that the horse pictured was none other than the actual horse that ran wild among the Banks - almost like a horse mug shot. I shook my head again, and smiled as I looked up the word 'among' in the dictionary, "in or through the midst of". Again, the mental image of a horse running wild 'through the midst of' Auckland's banks made me question the grammatical significance of this advertisement.

I know it was only an advertisement, but somebody spent a great deal of time, effort and money to set that ad. You would think that for the large sum of money that it cost - and I am positive it cost a great deal - the only thing that the reader should think about is how The National Bank is a cut above the rest of the banks. Not horses, even thoroughbred horses, running amuck in the banks of Auckland. It is amazing to think that this ad could have easily been set properly by using the word 'of ' where 'among' was so as to read... " The thoroughbred of Banks." The power of clarity in the written word!

But then again, maybe the word 'among' has a different meaning here in Auckland. After all, they do talk funny and drive on the wrong side of the street.