Been There, Said That
By
Indu.Balachandran
Suddenly, a number of good men who were once content
with touching females, are now getting in touch with
their feminine sides. They even have name for
themselves: the new ‘metrosexuals’ – and I’m very upset.
Not because of what they’re touching, or even embracing,
but because I never thought of the word metrosexual
myself.
What a wonderful new-age expression to have invented!
At least I should have been the first to introduce the
word to you, but then you’ve already gone and read all
about it. ( In a Shobha De column, I bet).
I keep wondering how a sudden new-age word or expression
creeps into our vocabulary, and we start bandying it
about, without so much as a thought to its authorship.
Remember you had ‘been there, done that’ coming out of
your ears…then along came ‘pushing the envelope’. Too
proud to ask what on earth led to that ( an ambitious
postman trying to deliver a very thick letter through a
narrow postbox??) I kind of figured out it was in the
area of ‘raising the bar’, which was already getting
worn at the edges through overuse. Right now, I wish
someone would stuff pushing-the-envelope into a phrase
shredder: every interviewee, especially our advertising
celebs, want to creep this in, somewhere…
Yet nobody is getting tired of ‘let’s do lunch’. But the
people who say
 ‘let’s do lunch’ definitely don’t do it
in a humble Udipi restaurant. Such a new age phrase is
meant only for lunching at the Club or a posh Thai
restaurant, where you also say “Check please!” to the
waiter. (you can never say ‘check please!’ to a humble
Udipi waiter with a pencil stuck behind his ear).
I sometimes can predict exactly when someone is going to
say “I’ll tell you where I’m coming from…” These are the
same people who would have said “Oh, let’s not go down
that road again…” even if you are having this argument
in the office conference room, not at a street corner.
I wonder at times whether other people feel a bit
self-conscious using a new phrase for the first time. I
know I did when I first said at a party ‘oh, he’s such a
anal retentive person’… Bullseye! I had scored there!
Though everyone was too posh to acknowledge it, I could
see the others couldn’t wait to use it at the next party
(I had myself read it in Esquire the previous night, and
couldn’t wait to use it at the next party).
Yet remember the mid-eighties, when you first heard of,
and therefore started bandying the phrase “man, it’s
such a happening place” to describe, say, a new hang-out
in town. Bet you’d rather be stabbed to death with a
cocktail toothpick than ever use that one again.
Getting back to latest style word, metrosexual… Jealous
that I hadn’t coined it first, I did some research on
it, and have come up with this …it was invented way, way
back! In 1994, by an American journalist called Mark
Simpson, to describe the new vain urban male who loved
to groom himself,
loved to cook, loved to use moisturizer, loved to preen,
just like his female counterparts and yet was as un-gay
as Tarzan.
Inspired, I too have invented a Word! This word will
help you make such an impact at the next party coming
up! It’s a word to describe the new urban sensitive
young romantic who longs to back to old-fashioned ,
unhurried love!
The word is: Retrosexual. (wow, I am so proud of
myself).
But just remember, you heard it first from me. Right
here.
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Indu is Executive Creative Director with J
Walter Thompson
She can be reached at
Indu.Balachandran@jwt.com
( By arrangement with Sunday Express) |
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