Pre-owned? Translate this into English please.

[rocketeer]

More and more items come up for sale on eBay as: Pre-owned, Pre- worn and even Pre loved.
What's wrong with the description used or secondhand?
JohnnyTee

 

[kiwilrdg]

It is an attempt to make things trendy. I think pre-worn is a scarier term because it could mean that the person has worn-out the item.

 

[rocketeer]

It is an attempt to make things trendy. I think pre-worn is a scarier term because it could mean that the person has worn-out the item.

Thanks, I probably guessed right then. It's just pre-owned could mean a new item that has lost it's tags or as you put it a trendy term for secondhand clothing. Pre loved? Could mean, "I just dont like it anymore"
The worst in my opinion is that most popular word on this forum 'Vintage', meaning almost anything from the last fashion phase to pre war and further until it becomes antique I suppose.
Here in the UK when we get a listing description on the 'Bay' it is usually New or Used.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Used" and "secondhand" are terms used by The Wrong Kind Of People, the sort who own and use secondhand things because they have to, not because they're trying to be quirky or ironic. Using cutesy euphemisms is a way for insecure middle-class people to differentiate themselves from the rabble.

 

[nice hat dude!]

I was going to say that it's a term to try to remove the so called stigma of the words second hand or used,those terms have never bothered me but to some I guess they do,just my thought.

 

[Shangas]

My dad always told me: You buy what you can afford at the best price that you can afford to spend on it.

If that means it's second-hand, it's second-hand, and there's no stigma in that. Hell, half the clothes I own are second-hand, but you'd never know it just by looking at it. The other half is hand-me-downs. Only a small small SMALL amount of it is actually bought new.

I think it's as Lizzie says. Folks who are too insecure about their own positions to admit it, use "cutesy euphamisms" to differentiate themselves or kid themselves that they're better than others, when in fact they probably aren't. But they think they are because they don't buy 'second-hand' stuff. Their stuff is "pre-owned"...a term which makes no sense to me at all. How can something be "pre-owned"? It's either owned, or it ain't. And if it's pre-owned,that means it ain't owned, that means it's brand-new, which means it ain't second-hand, which means that there's nothing wrong in buying it.

...am I making a modicum of sense here?

What I'm trying to say is that it's all a load of hogwash. It makes no sense because the people who created it make no sense.

 

[this one guy]

It sounds to me like more marketing. It creeps into everything...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Middle-class insecurity is the essence of marketing.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Sounds like a quote from Karl Marx or something.
It's true, words with negative connotations can't be used in marketing, unless of course they pertain to a competitor.

 

[nice hat dude!]

Just to add,like Miss Lizzie said the only ones to put negative connotations on those words would be the "insecure middle class folks"

 

[m0nk]

Middle-class insecurity is the essence of marketing.

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Edward]

"Used" and "secondhand" are terms used by The Wrong Kind Of People, the sort who own and use secondhand things because they have to, not because they're trying to be quirky or ironic. Using cutesy euphemisms is a way for insecure middle-class people to differentiate themselves from the rabble.

More or less, excepting that where I'm from, it's the middle class as have no hang up about second hand stuff. Where I went to school, every time it was the working class ( and more often, unemployed working classes) who didn't have two pennies to rub together who were the first to sneer at anything second hand... or even low priced, non-label.

 

[Aerojoe]

Pre-owned? Translate this into English please.

It's the hairdo you get when you are bald

 

[sheeplady]

Pre-owned is something I first heard on the commercials for used autos around here.

Those kinds of terms don't bother me. Everybody knows what you're talking about anyways. And if putting a "fancy" term on something makes it more palatable to more people and cuts down on waste and excess, then I am all for it. Where I went to college everybody spoke about "recycling" or "reusing" their clothes by dropping them off at the Salvation Army, particularly if they had originally purchased them from a thrift store. Honestly those terms more accurately describe what's happening than "second-hand"- for all you know three other people owned it before you. Since the vast majority of clothes I own are thrift store finds when I am done with them they are either rags or returned to the thrift store (recycled). I don't think I'm being uppity, and it would be a lot more crass of me to make a point of saying "I turned my second hand clothes into third hand clothes." That puts a value on the order of ownership and also suggests I place myself higher in that value than the people who will follow, which I certainly don't.

It annoys me a heck of a lot more to see something labeled "antique" or "vintage" than it does to say something is "previously loved." Antique and vintage tend to be terms thrown around a lot more snobbily by the general public than "pre-loved" or "pre-owned." I've never met anyone who snobbily said "Oh, this is previously loved" but I've met plenty of people who comment snobbily "Oh, this is vintage."

 

[gtdean48]

Prehistoric means "before history", right? Not to have "a previous history". When I first see pre-owned, I think "before being owned" = "new"...not "previously owned".... I guess this term does work in their favor to counter the thoughts of used & second hand....

 

[nice hat dude!]

You make a very good point Mr.Dean now the only question is did they mean it as prior to being owned or are they using the term "Pre" as a shortened version of previously,very astute observation none the less.My only take on it would be if it were used to mean prior to being owned why not say "New"?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I *loathe* the word "vintage." Absolutely loathe it, except when applied to wine. And I don't drink wine.

 

[tonyb]

I've been railing (much to the annoyance of some, I'm sure) against "pre-owned" for what must be a couple of decades now.

It's a losing battle, almost undoubtedly, seeing how those who feel about it as I do are up against those car dealers (mostly) and their astronomical ad budgets, but it's still a battle worth waging, at least until a second generation comes of age thinking it's "normal" speech, and use it without giving it a second thought, at which point I'll probably be a goner, anyway, so at least I'll be spared it.

 

[sheeplady]

I think "pre-owned" is a shortening of the term "previously owned."

 

[nice hat dude!]

I think "pre-owned" is a shortening of the term "previously owned."

I would say that seems to be the general consensus here Miss Sheeplady but Mr.Dean did have a good point none the less ala posts 15&16