There was an article in the Tribune about Old Speak vs. New Speak. Some of them are pretty good, like "losing season" vs. "rebuilding year." That's the ongoing saga of our Chicago Cubs!

Troop pullout...Redeployment

Reinforcements...Troop surge

Adult diapers...Discreet active wear

Taking job applications...Holding a hiring event

Problems...Challenges

Strong...Robust

Yes...Absolutely

Change...Recalibration

Employees...Associates

Rerun...Encore presentation

To investigate...To drill down

Telemarketing pitch...Courtesy call

Important...Mission-critical

Decrease...Negative growth

Layoffs...Realignment program

Mercenaries...Security contractors

TV show...Special television event

Phys ed, or gym...Kinetic wellness class

Imaginative...Outside the box

Pregame show...Game-day breakdown

Subject to change...Conditions-based

Used car...Pre-loved (or driven) vehicle

Losing season...Rebuilding year

I thought discreet active wear was a condom.

I see "pre-owned car" more than pre loved or pre-driven." Since "pre" means "before," if the car has yet to be owned/loved/driven, isn't it new? False advertising!

Generally the junks I buy are spree-driven.

Our unnecessary service requirements = For your convenience.

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quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
I thought discreet active wear was a condom.

I see "pre-owned car" more than pre loved or pre-driven." Since "pre" means "before," if the car has yet to be owned/loved/driven, isn't it new? False advertising!

hahaha....I never thought of that before.
Hey, does anyone want to buy a pre-new flying car? (I think I just sell someone the idea of one that hasn't been built yet.)

quote:

Hey, does anyone want to buy a pre-new flying car? (I think I just sell someone the idea of one that hasn't been built yet.)

You're many years too late. Check this out.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
Since "pre" means "before," if the car has yet to be owned/loved/driven, isn't it new? False advertising!

The OED says "pre" means "With verbs, or participial adjectives and verbal nouns derived from them, in sense ‘fore-, before, previously, in advance’." So I think we're ok.

quote:

I see "pre-owned car" more than pre loved or pre-driven."

I got this from an article. I added "pre-driven" because that's what I see; I also see "pre-owned" a lot. I have not seen "pre-loved." It seems a little stupid to me because I have never loved any of my cars. But I suppose some people do love their cars. I am just not that into cars.

I often use Google hits to get an idea of the use of words: "pre-owned" gets 38 M hits; "pre-driven" gets 111 M hits; "pre-loved" gets 35 M. The latter surprises me. I wonder if there is an area of the country that uses "pre-loved." What about those of you in England? What is your euphemism for a used car? (BTW, "used cars" gets 643 M hits).

I'm surprised nobody's using après-possessed.