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Thu 27 May, 2004 08:46 am
I don't know this jargon, or I just know how to express in in Chinese jargon, which means:
What we can do is just selling "loss-leaders".
But I feel this sentence seems not fit western businessmen's jargon style. But how to express it properly?
Regarding "loss leader", click:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lossleader.asp
The definition from my Chinese-English dictionaried:
Loss-leader: Goods that is sold in the hopes of building future relationship with customers and is sold at the price lower than the cost of the goods.
If this is in the context of talking about increasing business, one might say "Let us have some loss leaders" or "let us use some loss leaders".
You don't say "a" jargon. You say "some jargon", "that word is jargon", "the jargon", etc - but we don't use the indefinite article.
Also, "loss leader" is acceptable, though the term is little known to those outside the business world. If, however, the intent was to offer a good or service at a very low price in order to get the consumer in the store, and then to convince him to buy something at a higher price, that practice is called "bait and switch". It is often used by car dealers, and is generally considered manipulative and unethical.
Hi Flyboy and Eos, thanks for replies.
(1) I don't know whether or not what Flyboy introduced are ready-made business jargons.
(2) One of my Chinese-English dictionaries gave an example like this:
He spoke such a jargon I couldn't make head or tail of what he said.
So I am also not sure if the usage "a jargon" is proper or not.
Eos is correct about not saying "a jargon". Jargon is a collective word. To parallel your example, one would not say "He spoke such a 'gobbledygook' (nonsense) no one could understand him"; you would say "He spoke such gobbledygook-----".