For many companies and individuals dealing with outdoor advertising, it is important to know how to pronounce it correctly - billboard or billboard? Today we will try to understand this issue and find out where such a word came from.
Historical data
Billboards appeared for a good reason: it was necessary to convey information to the population. Therefore, even in ancient Egypt, announcements were posted stating that a reward was promised for captured runaway slaves.
In the subsequent historical period, wooden boards were used all over the world. They were attached next to a trading shop, a hotel, a tavern. The development of outdoor advertising has been slow. Posters were the next predecessors of advertising structures. Usually they were used to advertise theatrical performances. And the question of how to speak correctly - billboard or billboard - did not even arise.
By the end of the 20th century, it became an urgent need to mark every structure on city streets. At that time, there were such a huge number of varieties of advertising media that the MANR Association conducted a study in order to study the most effective of them. Then came the acronymBilling board.
The first part of it is translated from English as "information", the second - as "board". Literally - "advertising board". That is, we are talking about the information board. If we talk about the spelling of this word, then it should be remembered that one letter "l" should be used in the letter, since this is how the word is recorded in the spelling dictionary.
How did the name "bigboard" come about?
So, it is important for us to find out what is more correct - a billboard or a billboard? The word "bigboard" owes its appearance to the Big Board company (the date of its foundation is the beginning of the 1990s). Before the collapse of the USSR, there was either no talk of outdoor advertising at all, or it was aimed at promoting the interests of the state. There was another option - she was completely banned.
After the well-known events in the advertising industry, there has been a rapid growth. Coca-Cola (1991) was the first company that decided to place a standard sign on the roof of the building (that's what the neon structure looked like) was Coca-Cola (1991).
The initiative was taken up by many newly founded advertising organizations. One of them, the Big Board Company, had a large number of designs in stock. Below each of them was a similar inscription.
Given that at that time new words constantly appeared in the Russian language, there were no search engines, interpretation of new words did not appear in dictionaries immediately, people, not having time to understand what the new inscriptions meant, began to use them for the name of advertisingstructures of a similar format, the word "bigboard". It took root and is still used today.
Conclusion
But what is the right way to say - billboard or billboard? In writing and pronunciation, the second word is correct. After all, this is how this design was named for the first time. The second word is the name of the company. Its use will not be a mistake. But in dealing with business partners, it is better to avoid it.
