It’s recently come to my attention that the slogan for the 70th anniversary celebration at DLR is “Celebrate Happy”:
While the slogan itself is not a huge deal, and I’m sure I care more about language than the average resortgoer, I have to say I’m really not a fan of this at all…. it strikes me as the same type of inane linguistic autopilot that gave us such memorable, impactful monikers like “Snow White’s Enchanted Wish”, and has that all too familiar cloying air of being vaguely aimed at “families” in the abstract but then missing each actual individual family member in practice.
Part of the problem is that it’s just irritatingly difficult to parse: are they trying to say “Celebrate Happily” but being obnoxiously cute and baby-talky about it, or are they trying to say “Celebrate Happiness” but being obnoxiously cute and baby-talky about it, or is this just the first thing that ChatGPT spat out and no one ever meant anything by it at all? Is there some pernicious notion circulating in Anaheim that maybe this is how The Teens are talking now? I know linguistic issues aren’t the main challenges facing the park right now, but still.
