English for commercial purposes

Dear Dr English,

I have read your column in Language Lab and would like to ask some questions:

1. The language used in the movie 'A Lot Like Love' is rather strange for English used in daily life. Is it possible that the movie name is a game of words that the movie maker has used to draw the attention of passers by? Could it actually be that he means 'Like love a lot'?

2. Also, in the Index slogan, it's 'Home everything'. Is this slogan another exception in English grammar? It seems to me that the slogan is translated from Thai to English. However, it is concise and chic.

3. My last question is the meanings of Section, Division and Department. Am I right in putting them in this order? I would appreciate it if you could specify each word in Thai since I am very confused using them.
Thank you in advance for your answer. Your column has encouraged me to ask English questions.

Titikul Aramboonpong

1. Actually, there is nothing wrong or strange about this movie title. As is usually done in headlines, this movie title is only an abbreviated form, and as in headlines, it is the verb 'to be' that is omitted. In full, the title would read 'This is a lot like love'. If something is 'a lot like' something else, it is very similar to it. I haven't seen the movie but from the title I would presume it is a romantic comedy.

2. You are quite right; this company's slogan seems to be translated from Thai. While it appears to work just fine with Thai speakers of English, native speakers might find it rather confusing.

3. A section is one of the many parts that form a bigger piece or unit. A department comprises several sections in a large organisation such as a business, hospital or university, or a part of government responsible for the administration of a particular area or policy. A division is a group of departments in a large organisation whose work is done in the same geographical area or is connected with similar tasks (although in some countries, government departments are comprised of divisions!)

You will see it is rather difficult to put these three words in order since in practice, each organisation is unique in arranging its structure and how it names its sub-units. For example, here at Nation Multimedia Group, department is the highest administrative office and we call it panaag in Thai, but for Thai government agencies, department is grom and division is Ògong. If you want you can follow the government style of naming their offices: 'panaag' for section, grom for department and ÒgongÓ for division. You can also find out what the particular office is called in English and name it as such.

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