Bodanis Mythpaste

Despite giving disturbingly grotesque descriptions of the ingredient of toothpaste, we can see Bodanis using a flippant tone in this essay with his informal language and his light-hearted comments. If you had a serious tone, would you write “it’s the stuff bobbing around”, “ a host of other goodies”, or “zap any accidently intrudent bacteria into oblivion” (6, 8, 12)? No, you wouldn’t — but Bodanis did. Besides his casual language, he also takes unexpected turns with his tone. After describing the damage of “unduly, enlarged extra-abrasive chalk fragments” with horrifying imagery such as “cavernous pits”, “craters”, and “pits”, the grim mood which Bodanis established makes the reader expect him to address these teeth-wrecking problems with

seriousness (5). However, he unexpectedly shrugs off the weight of these issues, through using rhetorical devices, such as meiosis, to lessen the significance, “In case even the gouging doesn't get all the yellow off, another substance is worked into the toothpaste cream” (6). When contrasting the verbose adjectives used in his previous bleak description of the teeth damage from chalk , against his own comment “gouging”, he quickly turns from the seriousness which he elicited in readers, to an evident light-heartedness (6). Bodanis’ essay used a flippant tone which was evident in his unperturbed attitude while describing the disgusting composition of toothpaste, and informal language which was able to help maintain the interest of readers to the seemingly-boring topic of toothpaste.