snakes, or a malevolent (evil, bad) person might be called "a real snake"
Connotation can depend on the person who hears the word and the associations he/she brings to it.
* A plumber might immediately think of a plumbing tool called a snake.
*A biologist might think of the rare Indigo Snake he felt lucky to see the past weekend.
Some words, though, have shades of meaning that are commonly recognized. For example:
While "serpent" is literally a snake, the word "serpent" is usually associated with evil. In today's society, "politician" has somewhat negative associations, while "statesman" sounds more positive.
Part II. Connotation & Denotation Real Life Applications Every wonder how connotation & denotation influences the names of different products? Well, believe it or not, manufacturers & advertisers are very tuned into connotation & denotation of words when they name different products and when they develop advertising to market the products.
For example: Car Names: Here are some car names from the past: Thunderbird, Falcon, Charger, Comet, Mustang, Barracuda, Rabbit, Pinto, Gremlin.
Choose one of these cars & answer the following questions:Car Name: _____________
What sort of image do you see in your mind from this name?_______________________
What kind of performance would you expect from this car?________________________
What kind of person would this car target & why?_______________________________
Getting inside the manufacturers & advertisers heads:Look at the list of car names above and answer the following questions:
Which car do you think is the fastest & why? __________________________________
Which car is the best “muscle” car & why? ___________________________________