net-net

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Dan. That supports my point about ascendancy as well as about a
possibly broader, affected sense of "net-net."

JL




On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> I didn't mean to imply that she was trying to obscure the facts, merely
> that her familiarity with the idiom "net-net" had impaired her ability
> to speak lucidly to the average voter - and even to the average news anchor.
>
> Whatever the accounting method actually employed at Hewlitt, the word
> "overall" would seem to suffice for non-accountants, unless a specialist
> explanation is required. (As, for example, if the general truth of the
> matter were in dispute.) But I'm still not certain that she was even using
> "net-net" in its literal sense.
>
> JL
>
>  On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: net-net
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>        "Net net" actually does have a meaning.  It is a valuation
>> technique in which current assets are netted to reflect uncertainties in
>> collection (e.g., inventories are valued at liquidation values), and
>> then liabilities are netted against assets.
>>
>>        As described, however, HP's job creation number was merely a
>> "net" number, because there was only one netting process.  There are at
>> least two possible explanations for Fiorina's use:
>>
>>                1.      She is using a phrase that sounds impressive but
>> is meaningless in context (or, perhaps, sounds more impressive than is
>> really the case), for obfuscatory purposes.  This, I take it, is Jon's
>> theory.
>>
>>                2.      There actually was a calculation that reflected
>> two netting processes, but she does not remember what the other netting
>> process was or feels that she would be unable to describe it concisely.
>> Based on my experience with CEO spokespersons, this would be my guess.
>>
>>        There is also something called a "net net net" (or "triple net")
>> lease, in which the lessee has to pay the net amounts of three types of
>> costs.  I'm not aware of any quadruple nets, however.
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 9:42 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: net-net
>>
>> CNN yesterday:
>> http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/11/sitroom.02.html
>>
>> "FIORINA: I managed Hewlett-Packard through the technology recession,
>> the
>> worst in 25 years, the dot-com bust. But, net-net, we created jobs.
>>
>> . . .
>>
>> "BLITZER: So, the 30,000 figures who were laid off during -- I guess the
>> dot-com bust, if you will, I guess that's true, even though you say you
>> created more jobs than you than you had -- were forced to lay off? Is
>> that
>> what you're saying?
>>
>> "FIORINA: Yes. Net-net, we created jobs.
>>
>> "BLITZER: What does that mean, net-net?
>>
>> "FIORINA: Well, it means there were more employees working for
>> Hewlett-Packard the day I left than the day I arrived."
>>
>> So it means "comparing the later net figure to the earlier."  In other
>> words, "overall."
>>
>> A vital element overlooked in the transcript is the impatience in
>> Carly's
>> voice when she had to explain the meaning of "net-net" to a veteran
>> journalist.  You mean it isn't obvious??
>>
>> Anyway, if you say "net-net," other *supposedly* intelligent people will
>> have to ask you what it means, and that puts you in the vital ascendant.
>> Gooooaaaaal!!!
>>
>> JL
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org