'Prosumer'

[carljweber]

PROSUMER : new?

Dear ADS,

'Prosumer' seems not to have come up for ADS listmembers. When I heard it
recently, it sounded semantically murky and morphologically challenged.
Years ago the word 'ebonics' wafted into the nation's socio/political
establishment lexicon and briefly hung in the hallways. An Afro-American
comedienne friend quipped acutely in her act that it sounded wrought by the
Amos and Andy School of Linguisticians.

The hook of 'prosumer' seems insufficiently barbed to take hold.

(off a web page).

TURNS OF PHRASE SECTION

PROSUMER

This word is becoming fairly common but can be confusing, as it has two
meanings. It was coined in 1980 by the futurist Alvin Toffler - in his book
The Third Wave - as a blend of producer and consumer. He used it to describe
a possible future type of consumer who would become involved in the design
and manufacture of products, so they could be made to individual
specification. He argued that we would then no longer be a passive market...

The second usage describes a purchaser of technical equipment who wants to
obtain goods of a better quality than consumer items, but can't afford
professional items (older terms for goods of this intermediate quality are
semi-professional and industrial quality). Here, the word is a blend of
professional and consumer. Prosumers of this sort are famed for their
enthusiasm for new products and their tolerance of flaws and, from the
marketing point of view, have much in common with early adopters.

"DVDwiz represents the first truly professional-quality DVD authoring
software available to the prosumer and consumer markets, offering the unique
creativity level and compatibility so far only available to professionals.
[Business Wire, Sep. 1999]"

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Carl Jeffrey Weber,
Chicago
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