"pre-owned"

[Baker, John]

        Ditto in Boston.  It's sometimes spelled out more fully as
"previously owned."  I don't think there's any intentional ambiguity; it's
just the best euphemism that the industry could come up with.

John Baker


> -----Original Message-----
> From: A. Maberry [SMTP:maberry at U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 12:22 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: "pre-owned"
>
> "Pre-owned" meaning "used" has been common in Seattle for years. However,
> I can't recall the year I first heard it. Early 1990s maybe?
>
> allen
> maberry at u.washington.edu
>
> On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, sagehen wrote:
>
> > There's a bit of radio spam  I've been hearing lately, on NPR, in
> > connection with some car :  "pre-owned."  On the model of pre-war,
> > prehistoric, preview, this ought to mean not yet taken possession of,
> but
> > I think is actually intended as a euphemism for "used." Sloppiness or
> > intentional ambiguity?
> > A. Murie
> >