Phraseology and Culture in English

Entertainment 
n Boat or an Antique Car. Enjoy 16 wonderfully themed rides and (US) 
yllacrostics Fans&ellips; Enjoy a whole book of the puzzles you (US) 
d His Dream Castles Book. Enjoy the fantasy world of this storybook (US) 
German Alps Festival. Enjoy German music and dancing, food and (US) 
enjoy a range of children's entertainment (UK) 
ks xamp; gifts available. Enjoy the exhibitions on show and refresh (UK) 
production of artefacts, enjoy traditional and contemporary music, (UK) 
r Copthorne Aberdeen and enjoy a week-end fishing for wild salmon (UK) 
Travel
onial El Fuerte.
squf; Enjoy a cruise on Topolobampo Bay in the (US) 
inch # Have 3 children. Enjoy the beach, movies, great wine etc. (US) 
VACATION EVERY DAY! Enjoy the beautiful ocean views from this (US) 
live show. Come aboard, enjoy New York harbor.
Established (US) 
Traditional gypsy caravan. Enjoy the Cotswold scenery in the company (UK) 
oining Natural Trust land. Enjoy unspoilt countryside and coastline (UK) 
and Colwyn Bay ... or enjoy the Victorian elegance of Llandudno (UK) 
ograph or simply relax and enjoy the beautiful mountainscapes. (UK) 
Savings / Profits 
h non-deductible interest. Enjoy the savings from lower interest (US) 
spending, enjoy retail savings that help stretch (US) 
onger you remain a member. Enjoy savings of up to 70% off the music (US) 
each selection. Plus, enjoy extra bonuses and savings.
(US) 
hases!
REI Adventures: Enjoy reduced land rates on trips by REI' (US) 
cription of just £2.99 and enjoy even more competitive rates for (UK) 
£5.20 or £7.80 weekly and enjoy higher cash benefits. One (UK) 
r person!
This Spring, enjoy up to 40% off published rates at (UK) 
spending each month -- and enjoy up to 46 days interest free (UK) 
With respect to the semantic preference of enjoy there are no clear differ-
ences between the UK and US corpus so that we can again speak of a com-

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124
Monika Bednarek and Wolfram Bublitz 
common Anglo-American culture of persuasive writing. Besides the fact 
that the findings naturally reflect corpus compilation (i.e. what has been put 
in the corpus), there are several observations that can be made concerning 
the semantic preference of enjoy for both corpora. 
Firstly, the data highlight the importance of food in the Anglo-Ameri- 
can world. Normal, plain food, however, often does not do: it must be terri-
fic, the very best, exceptional, great, authentic, classic, outstanding, unique, 
superb, delicious, mouthwatering, delicate, best, good, sizzling, tasty, the 
finest or in abundance (huge portions of, a whole pound of). Such exagger-
ated characterization can be seen as a reflection of a real or merely ostensi-
ble state of lavish affluence, which is difficult to envisage in certain com-
munities of the developing world. It also considers food not as a normal, 
though vitally essential resource of human life (cf. German Lebensmit-
tel) but it re-conceptualizes it as the object of a special, fun-connected ac-
tivity. 
Secondly, the phenomena in the entertainment category reflect the 
whole gamut of accepted pastimes in the Western world: arts, music, thea-
tre, books (including catalogues, brochures), exhibitions, shows, parties, 
games, sports, shopping etc. But the semantic preferences of enjoy in our 
data also clearly reveal that in the Anglo-American cultures shopping is 
conceptualised as a pastime similar to the more traditional and less con-
sumption-oriented activities such as sports and games. In this sense the 
persuasive use of enjoy might again be argued to promote an egocentric 
ideology of having fun, which is, furthermore, totally ethnocentric, because 
it promotes “consumption in a world which needs to save resources, and the 
acquisition of personal wealth in a global society which desperately needs 
fairer distribution” (Cook 1992: 199). 
Thirdly, the phenomena in the travel category mostly refer to the (natu-
ral) scenery: what people can see (rather than do). The majority of travel 
advertisements here are not targeted on the ‘active’ tourist; there are only 
very few occurrences that imply the tourist’s activity and some of these are 
even weakened (enjoy sightseeing, shopping and a rest stop; enjoy a spot of 
easy beachcombing).
15
There is also often a focus on the service that is 
provided (a scheduled flight, easy-to-use maps, a welcome reception, 
choosing between, expanded lower deck with pool, huge pool etc.), geared 
towards the addressees’ well-being. 
Fourthly, in the savings and profits category, enjoy is used in a different 
sense and appears to be largely delexicalised. Whereas you can certainly 
enjoy food, entertainment and nature (in the sense that you can more or less 

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Enjoy!: The (phraseological) culture of having fun
125
actively consume them), it is questionable whether you can ‘enjoy’ savings 
in the same sense. To explain the difference in the usage of enjoy, we have 
to look at its different meanings. 
4.2. Enjoy doing and enjoy having
Of the three definitions of enjoy given in 
COBUILD
, enjoy in the savings and 
profits contexts is used in sense 3: