Aural small print

Aural small print is apparently one name for the incredibly fast disclaimers you sometimes hear at the end of radio ads, and also as a good name for a band, according to a commenter on this blog. These disclaimers often contradict and undermine whatever the ad was about.

Do you know if there is a standard or official name for such disclaimers?

Do you get them in other languages?

There are some quite amusing parodies of email disclaimers here, and here’s my disclaimer for this post (to be read as fast as possible with much mumbling):

This post has been hand-crafted from only the finest ingredients and should be read within 48 hours with the eyes no more than 3 feet (91.44 ml) from the screen and the head tilted to the left at an angle of 85.6 degrees fahrenheit (20cm). Bake for at least half an hour, then leave to cool. Do not read while driving, operating heavy machinery, eating bananas, or having a bath. Omniglot accepts no responsibility (picture top right). Your mileage may vary. Words may settle in transit. Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary. If symptoms persist, consult a doctor. Suitable for vegetarians. May contains traces of nuts. Not tested on animals. Contains no additives or preservatives. Would the last one to leave please switch off the lights. Thank you and good night.

5 thoughts on “Aural small print

  1. They have shortened “Terms and Conditions apply” in one ad so it comes out, “Termsconditionsply”.

  2. LOL. I like the artesian labeling for your post – “hand-crafted from on ly the finest ingredients”

    Whenever I e-mail one co-worker in Russian, I add exactly this type of disclaimer in small font usually saying something like:

    “Any offense or insult taken from the following message is purely unintentional, No feelings were meant to be harmed in the making of this message, Your mileage may vary, restrictions apply, see store for details, VOID where prohibited…(c)2007TM”

    just in case I accidentally say something offensive in Russian – very unlikely, but I like using the disclaimer, nonetheless.

  3. They have them on colombian radio, and boy are they fast (and impressive: spanish is a bit of a machine gun language as it is, and these are breathtakingly impressive). They must record these things slower and speed them up. The tone of voice is higher than normal in that type of spanish. My favorite one I saw on the net was

    “opinions expressed here may not necessarily be the opinions of those expressing them”

    😉

  4. I was at Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic today reading an book of articles and wondering whether or not I should read the where-the-article-came-from part like that. (Funny.)

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