Posted on 05/16/2007 6:10:45 AM PDT by LouD
RACINE — You’ve heard of “Pimp My Ride,” right? Now try “Pimp My Cart,” the Racine Public Library’s take on the popular MTV car-customizing show.
But the library’s attempt to reach out to the hard-sell teenage crowd has some in the community cringing at their vocabulary.
“I think it’s a laudable goal, what they’re trying to accomplish, but when I look at a library I see it as a bastion of culture whose job is to transmit and communicate culture,” said Lou D’Abbraccio. “For them to embrace the negative culture that that word connotes, I thought was inappropriate. I don’t think they need it. I think they’re trying to sensationalize it. I think they could pick any number of different terms to accomplish the same goal.”
But could they?
With the success of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride,” the word has worked its way into the vernacular. When used as a verb or adjective it means something cool, something hip, something so indescribably it that no other word will do. When used as a noun, it means someone not so nice, and conjures images of prostitution.
The library contest rests firmly on the verb, and leaves the noun behind, staff said. “As a verb it means decorate,” said Anne Callaghan, a youth services librarian. “I watch ‘Pimp My Ride.’ They take the rattiest cars and make them superb.”
Library staff acknowledge they are trying to capitalize on the slang word’s popularity to catch people’s attention.
D’Abbraccio doesn’t buy it. D’Abbraccio suggested words like “tune,” as possible substitutes for the undesirable “pimp,” “The term ‘bling’ is sort of en vogue, but it doesn’t have the negative connotation of the word they chose,” he said. “I certainly wouldn’t let my children listen to music that has that word in the lyrics. I wouldn’t let them use that word. Watch ‘Pimp My Ride’? Absolutely not.”
He said he watched the show once, and believes they often celebrate a “negative culture.”
Historically, however, libraries have not turned away from controversial aspects of popular culture. They champion banned books, they fight to keep people’s records from inspection by the government, and some libraries have worked to preserve people’s rights to access pornography on their computers. Books on library shelves have swear words on their pages, they cover topics savory and unsavory, classic and popular.
MacPhail said the people who are upset about the word choice aren’t the teenagers.
“The people who are offended are not the people who use it in the vernacular,” she said. “As with any program, we’ll evaluate the success. If there’s nobody, we won’t do it again. If there are 150 people lined up at the door and we don’t have enough carts, that’s different.”
Natasha Van Swol, 13, is one of the teens who has signed up to decorate a cart for the library. Her mother found out about the contest and signed her and her sister Amanda up for it.
“We don’t got much to do over the summer and stuff,” she said. “It seems pretty neat.”
She said she thought it was “a little weird” when she heard the name of the contest, “but it they’re trying to grab kids’ attention these days, I guess they use that word.”
Van Swol said she doesn’t use the word “pimp,” but that she hears it all the time.
“If it’s something that’s cool, and it’s usually toward cars and stuff like that,” she said. “Sometimes they use it as an insult.”
She said she doesn’t watch “Pimp My Ride,” because her parents “got rid of all the good channels.”
Van Swol said she uses the library occasionally, mainly to play on the Internet. She likes looking at sites about drawing and anime.
Since announcing the contest’s title, library staff said they have heard far more positive reaction than negative. Even so, Director Jessica MacPhail has a prepared answer for people who want to know what business the library has using a word like that:
“The word ‘pimp’ has come to mean ‘decorate’ to teens. I apologize if the use of that term is offensive to you.
“It may sound silly, but it shows teens that we recognize their place in the world and aren’t afraid to invite them to the table.”
Please fix title: Should read “What’s in a name? Racine Public Library invites teens to ‘Pimp My Cart’”
That’s what I get for posting before my first cup of coffee.
I thought of opening a Formal wear rental store and calling it “Pimp My Bride”...........
A pimp finds and manages clients for prostitutes and engages them in prostitution (in brothels in most cases and some cases street prostitution) in order to profit from their earnings. Typically, a pimp will not force prostitutes to stay with him, although some have been known to be abusive in order to keep his prostitutes in line or to maximize profits. A pimp may also offer to protect his prostitutes from rival pimps and prostitutes, or from abusive clients. He can also enable a prostitute to work in a particular area under his control. Pimping is a sex crime in most U.S. jurisdictions.
Just the kind of language libraries should be fostering.
NOT!
NOTHING irritates me more than hearing the word “pimp” being used as a verb.
I’ve often wondered if multiculturalism includes legitimizing the worst aspects of the culture.
It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp...
Our Boy Scout Council stupidly decided to call their annual event where troops build sleds and race them, “Pimp Your Sled”... needless to say this name was KIBOSHED within an hour of it being announced. They used the same stupid logic that this Library used... fortunately parents and others held the line and said, NO, that is NOT appropriate, I don’t give a damn what pop culture or MTV says, a label for a thug who exploits women is NEVER appropriate, no matter how “cool” it may be on the street.
How about “Pimp my Bus Pass”?
And therein lies evidence that part of the breakdown in our culture is that so many no longer make an effort to think, or be original.
Or trailer trash: Pimp My Double-Wide.
As a verb,it means the same thing as the noun -- except that it refers to the action, not the activity.
That would be a Weight Loss reality show......
That is a reverse gerund......
No, it simply shows that we place no distinction between proper culture developed through experience, and immature (leftist) culture of "the here & now, if it feels good do it, and live for today."
I hear a lot of different people use the expression that something “sucks.” Do they all forget that the expression began with the insult that the person “sucks [another word for rooster].” This is why I don’t allow my kids to use that expression, yet I am not sure anyone else remembers where that expression began.
What that should tell you is that words change their meaning all the time and the English language does this more often then most.
I use the word ‘sucks’ all the time (and no I did not know the etymology of the word) and I don’t see a problem with it. Just like that girl in Utah who was suspended for saying something was gay even though she wasn’t referring to homosexuality.
‘Pimp’ as a verb means making something stylish, period. You can go back 30 years and see that the term came from the extravagant clothes real pimps sometimes wore but as far as people my age (mid 20’s) and younger are concerned, to pimp something out makes to make it look cool; there is no other meaning for it.
All I have to say is get with the times people. In another decade we’ll have another word for making something look cool.
I think you can stop wondering and start believing...
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