A SPECIAL RING OF HELL IS RESERVED FOR THEM!
Ahem, sorry about that. I mean, it’s probably true, but that’s not actually what I want to write about.
A colleague turned to me today, sucking his teeth and generally looking a bit dramatic in that understated sub-editor way. He pointed at his screen. In the sub-head, ‘marketers’. In the body copy, ‘marketeers’. What devilry.
“I hate that word,” he hissed, deleting one e.
And then, like Carrie Bradshaw, I got to thinking. Marketeer has slightly negative connotations in my mind, possibly having been tainted by profiteer or black marketeer. For me, it conjures up images of someone who markets products recklessly and without conscience, whereas marketer just describes someone who markets stuff. However, it’s entirely possible that I made this up, because I do that sometimes.
As Dictionary.com says, the -eer suffix is “now frequently perjorative”. But does that include marketeer?
Perhaps not. I looked it up in several places, and couldn’t find any evidence of a negative nuance. There is, however, a specific meaning to marketeer, relating to support for EU membership.
Collins
Marketeer:
- (British) a supporter of the European Union and of Britain’s membership of it
- a marketer
Marketer:
a person employed in marketing
Oxford
Marketeer:
- a person who sells goods or services in a market: software marketeers
- [with modifier] a person who works in or advocates a particular type of market: in the US libertarians are free marketeers to the bone
Marketer:
(only listed as a derivative of market)
There also seems to be a particular stress on marketeers operating within a market, whereas marketers, perhaps, can just market in any old way. This does seem a rather obscure differentiation, though.
What do you think? Do you see them as equal in meaning? Do you read a negative nuance into one? Are the French involved (they usually are)? Is it a UK/US thang?
If I’m not alone in seeing marketeer in a negative light, it strikes me that it would be a useful thing for those who use it as their job title to be aware of. It can’t help with the marketeering.
just sounds so much more swashbuckling, marketeers, doesn’t it?
The Three Marketeers etc
Comment by charlie rw — November 1, 2012 @ 6:08 pm |
I thought a marketeer was someone that was marketing something novel rather than a product seen before
Comment by Krissie — November 1, 2012 @ 7:09 pm |
No discernable difference at all between the two usages, I believe you will find. You writes your style-guide and you makes your choice. You could even plump for the third way and call them “marketors”, which is what the City of London livery company that covers the profession went for when it was set up in 1978 … http://www.marketors.org/
Comment by Martyn Cornell — November 1, 2012 @ 7:27 pm |
A straw poll in the office – that’s two of us – revealed no thoughts of negative connotations. Far more importantly – welcome back: we have missed your rants lately.
Comment by Philip — November 1, 2012 @ 8:22 pm |
Aw! Thanks guys.
Comment by substuff — November 2, 2012 @ 10:46 am |
I can’t imagine anyone describing the people in our marketing team as marketeers. It seems to be making such an ostentatious statement – of what, I’m not really sure – to use that rather than the more straightforward ‘marketer’.
Comment by Tom Freeman — November 2, 2012 @ 10:26 am |
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Obviously the fact that you don’t agree with me means you’re all wrong, but I won’t hold it against you – much.
Comment by substuff — November 2, 2012 @ 10:47 am |
How about this:
One who writes is a writer, one who kills is a killer, one who gardens is a gardener. You can see where I’m going with this. One who markets is a marketer, one who muskets is a…
Aha … no. One who carries a musket is a musketeer. One who supports a single market is a marketeer.
I’m wondering if there are some verb/noun shenanigans going on. Although one who profits being a profiteer goes against that somewhat. Unless – aha! – it’s a PASSIVE verb, so maybe that makes a difference.
I’m reaching here. Suffice to say – you, Cathy, are right as ever, and marketeer is a sneering, derogatory term used by non-marketers to signify a subtle dislike of the profession. You must be correct, as the style guide on Marketing magazine was absolutely clear that marketeer was NEVER to be used under any circumstances…
Comment by Freelance Unbound — November 2, 2012 @ 11:41 am |
Hooray! Some support! Thanks.
Comment by substuff — November 16, 2012 @ 10:55 am |
If ‘-eer’ is pejorative, will alternative sexualities now be relabelled as “quer”?
Comment by Patrick Neylan — November 8, 2012 @ 4:54 pm |
Hehehe, this post made me chuckle. I always thought marketeer was US English and marketer, UK English. Whaddyareckon?
Comment by melpoluck — November 26, 2012 @ 6:48 pm |
I never heard of the negative nuance of “eer”. There’s plenty of words that end in “eer” and don’t have a negative connotation: Engineer, volunteer, auctioneer,…
That being said, over here on the European mainland, I can’t remember if I have ever heard anyone use “marketer”. We always use “marketeer”.
If I use translation software to translate the French word “marketeur” to English, I get “marketeer”. And “marketeur” has no negative connotation.
Comment by Hans — April 23, 2013 @ 1:23 am |