Every time I see this ad on the subway I'm a bit mystified. I got the idea pretty quickly--that by using Lavalife you can expect to find a quick hookup and be happy right now, rather than a good long-term relationship, as advertised by other dating services. The picture also suggests, as their other ads have, that you'll get to go on a lot of dates with different people. But I continue to ponder the linguistic and philosophical implications of how they chose to deliver this message.

1. If the words 'ever after' were simply not part of the ad, the phrase 'Live happily' would not suggest short-term happiness. Only having the words there and crossed out communicates the desired meaning. It's a linguistic device that I don't recall seeing before, though I'm sure it's all been done.

2. If the choice is between living happily for a short time and living happily ever after, would people really rather live happily for a short time? Naturally living happily ever after is much more difficult to achieve, and a more ambitious promise from a dating service. But having 'ever after' crossed out, to me, implies forgoing eternal happiness for the short-term variety. I understand what they're trying to say, but with my literal mind I can't get past the irrationality at that level. If you're happy ever after you get to be happy in the short term too! Don't you know that, cartoon woman!?

Also odd is that most companies, Lavalife included, love to deploy a few related ads at a time on the subway, all delivering the same message, but with a few different clever turns of phrase. I'm sure there's a term for it in the ad biz. An ad campaign, I guess you could call it. But this ad has no partners, so I have no other context by which to judge their message.