What is word of mouth?

Word Of Mouth

Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a story about a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and traditions transmitted by word of mouth through successive generations. Storytelling and oral tradition are forms of word of mouth that play important roles in folklore and mythology. Another example of oral communication is oral history — the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. Oral history preservation is the field that deals with the care and upkeep of oral history materials collected by word of mouth, whatever format they may be in. An important area of marketing is called word-of-mouth marketing, which relies on the added credibility of person-to-person communication, a personal recommendation.

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Famous quotes containing the words word and/or mouth:

    Denotation by means of sounds and markings is a remarkable abstraction. Three letters designate God for me; several lines a million things. How easy becomes the manipulation of the universe here, how evident the concentration of the intellectual world! Language is the dynamics of the spiritual realm. One word of command moves armies; the word liberty entire nations.
    Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)

    A mouse does not run into the mouth of a sleeping cat.
    —Estonian. Trans. by Ilse Lehiste (1993)