[Ads-l] Talent

[Dan Goncharoff]

In banking, "talent" correlates with the "front office", which "faces"
clients. Increasingly, however, it also refers to those working on digital
client-facing technology, even though they might never meet a client
directly.

On Fri, Jul 27, 2018, 12:13 PM Alice Faber <afaber at panix.com> wrote:

> On 7/27/18 8:43 AM, victor steinbok wrote:
> > I might be splitting hairs but I've been wondering if the use of talent
> in
> > "on-air talent" has evolved/narrowed well beyond the OED Talent III.6.d.
> > definition and needs its own entry, something like "high-profile
> employees
> > or recruits (collectively or individually)". It's also always collective
> > and excludes administrative/executive. Certainly needs updated examples.
> >
> > I'm looking at this piece https://goo.gl/tWCLgq and here are the
> relevant
> > lines
> >
> > "Guilfoyle called female on-air talent at Fox News in the summer of 2016
> > and asked them to make supportive statements about Ailes publicly,
> sources
> > said." (6.d.)
> >
> > "Sources said 21st Century Fox prefers that problematic employees retire
> or
> > resign rather than be terminated ― the company has taken this approach
> with
> > Fox News talent and executives in the past, as well as with Guilfoyle,
> who
> > was not formally terminated. This method gives talent and executives a
> > quieter way to exit and the network avoids a contentious departure." (Not
> > 6.d.)
> >
> > I've heard similar use in tech start-ups HR context, so it's not limited
> to
> > broadcasting/entertainment industry.
> >
>
> My cousin, whose first career as a sportscaster ended some 25 years ago,
> used to use "talent" for any camera-facing staff member.
> > VS-)
> >
> > OED entry
> > d. Talent as embodied in the talented; sometimes approaching or passing
> > into the sense: Persons of talent or ability collectively; as singular, a
> > person of talent. By the sporting press, applied to backers of horses, as
> > distinguished from the 'layers' or bookmakers, the implication being that
> > those whose investments make a horse a 'favourite' are supposed to be
> 'the
> > clever ones'.
> > (Administration of) All the Talents (English History), an ironical
> > appellation of the Ministry of Lord Grenville, 1806–7, implying that it
> > combined in its members all the talents.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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