I always wondered what creative writers did for a living if they didn't make it writing kids' books... and walking down the valentine's day aisle at the market yesterday, I found my answer- it looks like they work for chocolate companies, writing the descriptions for decadent treats like Lindt Excellence Intense Orange! Take a look at this description, and let's pull out a general list of words used: 

• gourmet
• high quality
• finest textures
• perfection
• ultimate union of force and finesse
• intense and elegant
• lingering taste
• rich color
• delicate fruity aroma
• duo of harmonious contrasts
• silky
• delicate crunch

Just as Lehrer points out in the wine wine descriptions, I noticed a distinctly gender-charged tone to these chocolate words. "Delicate," "elegant," and "silky," jumped out to me immediately as very feminine, but there is also a repetition of the idea of unions and duos with other traits. These two-part descriptors focus on what seems to be a masculine word with a feminine one- for example the "union of force and finesse" suggests an ideal balance of strong masculinity and subtle femininity. I found that formula an interesting reflection of the association of chocolate with sex and romance. Words like "silky," "lingering," and "intense" perpetuate that trend. Aside from gender, this description ascribed few explicitly human traits to the chocolate, unlike Lehrer's wine descriptions.

I'm going to make a new category of words, ones that fall under the intention to convey decadence. These are words that, to me, are intended to make the customer feel like this chocolate bar is an expensive and high-class item.

• gourmet
• high quality
• finest textures
• elegant
• rich
• delicate

This decadent diction is highly tied to marketing strategy, and I think an objective taster would be less likely to use it. It does, however, say something about the eating experience that Lindt is trying to capture in this product- an experience of indulgence.

Now let's look at the categories for descriptors that we used in class: Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouthfeel, and Finish.

Appearance:

• rich brown

Aroma:

• delicate
• fruity

Taste:

• intense
• elegant
• orange
• harmonious
• Force and Finesse

Mouthfeel:

• silky
• finest texture
• delicate crunch
• Force and Finesse

Finsh

• Lingering
• Force
• Finesse

Before this class, I had never really noticed that these descriptions were focused on anything other than the taste, but now I can see that they are definitely talking about food as a whole experience. They even emphasize that the consumer should "experience Lindt with all five senses."