14 July 2009

"Auspimpen"

MTV has done the German language two great wrongs. Following the sucess of "Pimp my ride," Germans have started using "pimp my X" or "X auspimpen" to mean "upgrade." The certain irony around the racial use of "pimp," or even that "pimp" means "to force others into prostitution" is completely absent.
Through similar--albeit unknown--channels has "gangbanger" made its way into German. MTV-German speakers (i.e.., by no means a majority of all Germans) use it to mean something like "manwhore."


It's worth noting that "Pimp my i8910HD," an article about adding mobile phone applications to improve functionality, is responsible for my blogpost.

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