Word: adman
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...bolts that was down on its knees with 38 on the clock, and two dozen for a loaded cream puff with a few dings." I was reminded of some more lingo that one might encounter between two used-car dealers when I read your Oct. 13 article on the adman's jargon: "Dog, lemon, roach, bucket of bolts, Southern beauty, Detroit taxicab," etc. (a used car in very poor condition); "piece, piece of iron" (any car); "heat and music" (radio and heater); "bill" ($100); "dozen" ($1,200) "cream puff" (a used car that was well taken care of) ; "dings...
...world's current passion for eye patches and other attention-catchers, Manhattan Adman Frank Neuwirth hit upon a new one-a foot-long beard. He tried it in an ad for expensive ($7.50 to $20) Tiemaker Countess Mara Inc. (TIME, Dec. 2, 1946), and landed the store's account. In The New Yorker it was easily the ad of the week...
...agencies along Manhattan's Madison Avenue, the true test of a huckster's sincerity is the way he speaks the language. But it is not the English language as most people know it: it is the adman's jargon, which changes as fast as a sponsor's mind when the Hooperating slumps. An adman who wants to keep "with it" must change his vocabulary almost every week. Otherwise, he simply will not be considered an "acute citizen"; he just won't be "attuned." Last week the acute citizen had some sharp new phrases...
...office, once known as the "shop," is now the "foundry," "store" or "delicatessen." An adman attends "brainstorm sessions" instead of meetings; there, ideas are "pressure cooked," "housebroken," or merely "kicked around." And if no single idea is "bought"-that is, if nobody "gets any nourishment from it"-chances are a bunch of ideas will be "Burbanked," i.e., combined into a hybrid. At such high-level "spitballing sessions" it may be advisable to "pitch up a few mashie shots to see how close we are to the green." Then, having made sure that the scheme has sufficient "protein...
...successful adman nowadays must "get into the field"-even if it is only on a "one-man survey"-to "check the trade" and get an "on-the-ground approach" to the "big picture." That means, of course, both "sales-wise" and "production-wise." Then, having gotten a "fillin" (which is known in advertising circles as letting an outside dope in on the inside dope), he will be all set to "finalize his thinking" and "explode the market...