Why Ice Cream Sounds Fat and Crackers Sound Skinny

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=63151

by jestinjoy1 • 12 years ago

67 24 12 years ago

alumni.stanford.edu

ttty• 12 years ago

Once 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• 12 years ago

Yes, those were some fun times.

spion• 12 years ago

Interesting. 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• 12 years ago

Yes, ask the questions in random order

Mimu• 12 years ago

I 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• 12 years ago

Interesting.. 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• 12 years ago

Does Frozen yogurt follow this logic? It seems like a harder sounding word might imply the health effects

LesZedCB• 12 years ago

I 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• 12 years ago

The same here. And as you, English is not my first language.

viewer53• 12 years ago

What do you mean by "thick American accent"?

EC1• 12 years ago

Probably means a Southern accent.

pessimizer2• 12 years ago

Is there something confusing about the idea of an American accent? Americans certainly have no problem talking about an English accent as if Cockneys sound anything like Scousers. To American ears, of course, they actually do, because those accents share some characteristics that are nearly absent from all American accents (and vice-versa.)

psychometry• 12 years ago

You skipped the article entirely and went straight to the comments, didn't you? The article is about names of ice cream brands, not the phrase "ice cream" itself.

porker• 12 years ago

I 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• 12 years ago

Deh-tal, Doo-tal, Keh-fi, Kuh-fi, Neh-len, Nuh-len

joshuahedlund• 12 years ago

As an outsider, the uncited studies sound suspiciously like the sort of thing that is guaranteed to generate statistically significant values with enough iterations...

Vraxx• 12 years ago

Hmmm, 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.

Why Ice Cream Sounds Fat and Crackers Sound Skinny

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