[Ads-l] Sleaze Letigimized - Euphemism Rampage

[Jonathan Lighter]

It was already common practice at UT when I arrived in Knoxville in 1974.

And they were called "scalpers."

JL

On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 11:12 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Sleaze Letigimized - Euphemism Rampage
>
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>
> Somewhere there's something interesting to say about semantics or
> pragmatics and scalpers who stand outside a venue with signs saying, "I
> need tickets." They don't need them; they're selling them, but they're
> not allowed to say that. At least, that's how it is here in central
> Ohio. Does this happen elsewhere?
>
> Neal
>
> On 1/20/2015 11:20 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Sleaze Letigimized - Euphemism Rampage
> >
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> >
> > On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 3:35 AM, David Daniel wrote:
> >>  From CNN Money: Re Super Bowl tickets, thousands of which are given to
> "...
> >> the teams, which end up using brokers to sell them on the secondary
> market."
> >> So now scalpers (touts - UK) are "brokers" and ply their trade proudly,
> >> making money for the teams in the "secondary market"? Back at World Cup
> >> time, a bunch of people went to jail here in Rio for scalping. They just
> >> picked the wrong country I guess.
> > The "secondary market" for reselling tickets has been legitimized by
> > the U.S. professional sports industry, allowing people to resell
> > tickets via StubHub and similar services. (Presumably the
> > leagues/teams get a cut of the profits.) So your one-time "scalpers"
> > are now legitimate "brokers." Cf. "budtender," replacing "pot dealer"
> > in states that have legalized the sale of marijuana.
> >
> > --bgz
> >
>
> --
> Dr. Neal Whitman
> Lecturer, ESL Composition
> School of Teaching and Learning
> College of Education and Human Ecology
> Arps Hall
> 1945 North High Street
> whitman.11 at osu.edu
> (614) 260-1622
>
>
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