February 14, 2008Poison Phrase ~ Business pimp
Language expert Laura Orsini posted an article about a speaker who branded herself as a:
- Business Pimp
You can read her entire post here.
My comment is: there are some ideas we don’t want to feed – even if they’re memorable or potentially profitable. I’d put the concept of “pimp”in that category. Reporter David Schuster was rightfully suspended from his job for suggesting the Clintons were “pimping” their daughter by having her work for the campaign. I would hope this speaker will rethink her brand.
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I believe Orsini is attempting to take a culturally “negative” word and empower it.
I understand that. I’ve done it with a few words of my own. The only trouble I have with this one is – “pimping” suggests (well, screams) “exploiting”. I’m not okay with the concept of exploiting other people or things.
I like her willingness to break the mold, but in this case, I’d have just filled that particular mold with Jell-o and let it congeal in the fridge. Then I would have plopped a dollop of whipped cream on top of it and shared it for all to enjoy.
Some molds are maybe meant to remain unbroken.
Comment by kym — January 22, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
Some words have so many and such strong negative connotations that attempting to change their meaning is not only pointless, but reflects badly on the person trying. “Pimp” right now is one of those, in my opinion. Perhaps in a few decades it might work, but for now, it suggests that this person is looking to exploit businesses, or wanting to put superficial glitzy changes on the business to fool customers into doing business with them.
I assume that this woman is looking to make the businesses more profitable, or ethical, or effective, or something positive. She would do well to spend some quality time with a good thesaurus and look for another, positive word.
Comment by Sharon — January 28, 2009 @ 11:01 pm