Pimp My Wife? The Danger of Using Pop-culture terms you don't understand

Today, I received an e-mail about a program called Pimp My NGO. A friend told me about a friend of hers who sent her an e-mail about his idea, "Pimp My Wife." There is one thing about this of which I am certain, they don't have any idea what this term means. I know where they got it. MTV has made the concept popular with the show "Pimp My Ride" which transforms people's cars. In the US, people get that the term is completely tongue-in-cheek. However, when the concept is carried overseas where understanding of a term like pimp is sketchy at best, this can be a bit dangerous. So, let me tell you why.

First, let's talk about the word pimp. Does anyone know what a pimp is? A pimp is the guy who "manages" a group of prostitutes. Pimps are known for several things: beating their "ladies of the night," making money off of them and returning barely enough to live in squalor, and driving a specific type of car. So, is this REALLY what you want to say? Let's talk for a second about the car thing. It's important in understanding why MTV chose this title for their show. There is a certain profile for "pimp cars." They tend to be large American made cars. Cadillacs and Lincoln Town Cars seem to be the most popular. They are typically very wild colors and feature things like fuzzy dice in the windshield. Basically, in an America where cars have very little personality (except the newer offerings from Chrysler like the PT Cruiser), pimp cars were full of personality (I don't necessarily mean that in a good way, by the way). So, the show title makes sense for MTV if they're taking a boring ordinary car and spicing it up. I hope they aren't literally making it look like a car that a pimp would drive, but...

When we take the term and try to adapt it, it loses the only connection to the actual meaning. So, when my friend told me about this "Pimp My Wife" concept for a makeover show, I was horrified. I explained to her what pimp means and she was horrified as well. She realized that saying you would "pimp" your wife was seemingly equivalent to saying that you planned to prostitute her out. I am absolutely positive that wasn't what the guy meant, he was just following pop-culture and MTV. And "pimp" my NGO also comes across very negatively. Saying that makes me think that the NGO is willing to do literally ANYTHING for money. My oh my. Is that REALLY what they wanted to say. I seriously doubt it.

It is very scary when people take a term they don't understand and adapt it to (they think) suit their purposes. I hope this may give some folks pause to think, do I really understand what that expression means?

Happy Embarrassing Poor Expression Usage!