P.E.P.?

[David Borowitz]

On 8/10/07, ronbutters at aol.com <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      P.E.P.?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was amazed to see that the word "pep" is in use for a new commercial
> product, much less one for erectile disfunction. I got a spam ad today with
> the folllowing testimonial";
>
> "I pleased how swiftly P.E.P. worked on my boyfriend, he can no way stop
> babbling about how hot he is having his new calibre, length, and libido!"
> Amelia B., Washington
>
> Is "pep" making a vernacular comeback? It also occurs to me that some
> Bulgarian scammer may have selected "pep" from a dctionary without really
> unbderstanding how dated it is?


This is pure speculation, but consider the target audience of erectile
dysfunction ads. Using a slang term from baby boomers' youth for that kind
of product could help recall their own younger, more vigorous days. (I say
this without being particularly confident that the timing matches up.)

Dave

(If Dennis or a,yone needs to see the full ad, I can forward it to
> individuals")
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>
> Date:         Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:35:18
> To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] The earth v. Earth
>
>
> Colleagues,
>
> You all turn out to be right after all; I'm
> really slow to catch on, and this time it wasn't
> dialect pronunciation. It took me several
> milliseconds to correctly (re)process "American
> mfrs."
>
> dInIs
>
> PS: Was it a joke in the fist place? Are there
> other exciting stories about abbreviation
> ambiguity out there?
>
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> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> >Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >>
> >>Of course, I'm abstracting away from the fact that any noun or
> >>adjective in English can be made proper and, therefore, require
> >>capitalization, as is the case with Tarzan's son, Boy. OTOH, cf,
> >>German, in which every noun is capitalized. There's nothing intrinsic
> >>about this sort of thing.
> >>
> >>-Wilson
> >~~~~~~~~~~~
> >The fastidious French, on the other hand, honor a proper noun by removing
> >its capital when it has become so well-incorporated into French life that
> >it is recognized as a fully-fledged French word.  American mfrs, with
> their
> >jealous  & zealous protection of their precious brand names might be
> >comforted by adopting the French attitude when some miscreant uses, e.g.,
> >"kleenex" w/out cap or Å.
> >AM
> >
> >
> >
> >~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>
> >
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>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
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-- 
It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
    -Tom Stoppard

Borowitz

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