It's funny how the word "Pimp" has become mainstream.

[trumad]

A pimp finds and manages clients for a prostitute 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 does not force prostitutes to stay with him, but they have been known to be abusive in order to keep their prostitutes in line or maximize profits. A pimp may also offer to protect them from other pimps, prostitutes or abusive clients. He can also enable a prostitute to work in a particular area under his control. Pimping is a sex crime in most jurisdictions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp

[closeupready]

1. yeah, the headline you link to is tacky.

But this just comports with the way in which our culture is dumbing down.

[crispini]

2. ah, they're using it as a VERB, "to pimp out"

which is pretty common street slang re: cars.... but I think they'd have been better off using "trick out" instead. although I think that's got a rather seedy etymology as well....

[seabeyond]

3. pimp is not mainstream for me or my kids, nor will it be in the future

neither is aint

[MadHound]

4. It's been mainstream for over thirty years.

I remember when I was a teenager back in the seventies, the term "pimpmobile" came in usage in order to describe the large Caddies with the plush interior, gaudy paint job, tinted windows and curb feelers poking out from every wheel.

It's been big pimpin' ever since:shrug:

[trumad]

5. Agreed in that sense

but mainstream news using it "ain't" that mainstream.

[MadHound]

6. True that, and to find the MSM using the term just shows

How the quality of the our media has gone down the tube.

[WinkyDink]

9. Vernacular is not the same as journalistic mainstream. I think swear-words demonstrate

the difference, e.g.

[TahitiNut]

7. It's been a word since the 17th century

pimp
1607, perhaps from M.Fr. pimper "to dress elegantly" (16c.), prp. of pimpant "alluring in dress, seductive." Weekley suggests M.Fr. pimpreneau, defined in Cotgrave (1611) as "a knave, rascall, varlet, scoundrell." The word also means "informer, stool pigeon" in Australia and New Zealand and in S.Africa, where by early 1960s it existed in Swahili form impimpsi. The verb is attested from 1636. Pimpmobile first recorded 1973.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pimp

[hang a left]

8. pimpin'

Is a slang word used by all the youth I know, meaning that they are dressed well, their car is nice, they did something well, or a host of other reasons.

It is a positive term in culture today.

[WinkyDink]

10. It is a cant word, without dignity. Newsweek isn't Rolling Stone or Vibe.

Of course, some might reply, "More's the pity".

[spanone]

11. Same way bush* has used Captured or KILLED. I never heard a president talk like him.

[BuelahWitch]

12. Looks like they're trying to appeal to young people

But I agree, it's glaringly inappropriate in a magazine like Newsweek.