Calling Someone a Pimp is a Humor?

Oristar, I don't think your examples are humorous in a LOL kind of way.

(1) Yeah. I even called Bill Gates a pimp...
(2) Jesus Chirst,
Every man WANTS to be a pimp....
Pimp you pimp.... hell if you dont I will...

In example 1, it might be somewhat amusing. In example 2, I don't think so. And whether the term is used in a humorous way or not, it's never a compliment! A bit of nastiness usually accompanies this term.

Oristar, What have you been reading lately? Your last few questions have taken an unusual turn.

There's no accounting for taste in humor. What is humorous to some is not himorous to others and context is king.

Some younger people use pimp to mean "looking good" or to say the women like them.

1. "That car is pimp!" would mean that's a cool car.

2. "I went to a party last night and I was pimp!" would mean that he got lucky last night.

So it's slang for "cool" or "sexy" sometimes.

I think that in your example 1, it might be taken for an insult. In your example 2, I think that most people might take it literally, like you meant that you wanted to boss around hookers.

Does this clear it up for you?

Thanks to Roberta, Craven de Kere and LibertyD.

Taking one with another, the question should be clear now.

Roberta, I've been reading Jack London's the Call of the Wild. The book is great. But I wonder whether Jack's style in the book is somewhat old-fashioned or not. I do need to read more good books. What I am worrying now is that there are too much questions in my English writings that need to be improved. Do you mind you recommend some articles or works by you that you've published in US/UK
' magazines or newspapers? So that if I find I cannot understand somewhere in your writings I can ask you conveniently? Thanks.

Oristar, The Call of the Wild is a wonderful book, even if it is a bit old in the way it uses language.

Although I have written several books, none of them is about English. Two of them are about business subjects, and one is part of a series of other books. For general English grammar and usage, I highly recommend The Gregg Reference Manual, 9th edition, by Willam A. Sabin. I find it to be one of the most accessible of such manuals, and I refer to it all the time. In fact, I used to work for the company that publishes the book, and W. Sabin used to be my boss. I'm currently reviewing the 9th edition and making suggestions for the revision.

However, this book will not help you with the informal, idiomatic issues of language that you ask about here. In fact, I don't know of any book that would cover these questions. If I find one, I'll let you know. In the meantime, ask all your questions here. If I personally don't know the answers, someone else invariably does, and then you and I both learn something.

I think there is a couple of informal usages in Nekessa Mumbi's writing which I didn't get exactly.

(1) Rapper
I didn't know the exact defintion of the word.
A: One who performs rap?
B: One that raps or strikes, especially a door knocker?
I guess A and B are all improper definition.

(2) gangsta = ganster?

(3) Pimp
As rapper, I didn't know the exact defintion of the word.
Pimp = One who finds customers for a prostitute; a procurer?

(4) Jon = John = john = A man who is a prostitute's customer?
Since Joh bounce through ... so "Jon" means the plural form of john?

Thanks.

Rapper, in this article, means one who performs rap music. In most cases, this is the definition of rapper, although you could call someone who raps on doors rappers, too. I think the only time I've actually heard that definition used is in "The Raven," though.

Gangsta = gangster.

Pimp -- I think that what this author is saying is that a lot of rappers want to *pretend* to be pimps or gangsters, because pimps and gangsters, in hard-core street life, are cool, have money, and have all the women. At least that's the image given to them by some. It's mostly just silliness.

In the early 1970's, there were some movies with pimps in them, who were dressed in crazy bright clothes and huge hats and platform boots (boots with very high heels). They wore furs and lots of gold, and have become sort of a joke. But those pimps in the movies had a lot of women and acted cool, and so now, that's where the word "pimp" can be used synonymously with "cool" or "sexy," but it's done in a funny way. Most people don't *really* want to find customers for hookers, but they want to be cool and sexy. Here's a photo of "Undercover Brother" who's kinda pimp:



If you ever watch Conan O'Brian's show, then you'll see him sometimes do a skit about being a cool pimp, where he has a fur coat, fur hat, fur-covered car, fur-covered cell phone, etc. And he plays it off as cool and sexy but it's really a joke.

Jon is a different way of spelling John -- but it isn't plural. I *think* that the plural form of John when used as a definition of a customer of a prostitute, is simply "johns."

Good explanation! Thank you LibertyD!