Pimping, the activity, is always going to be a nasty thing, because it wil always have an ultra exploititive connotation--at least among people who understand what it is. Hence you can never use the word in polite company or in professional writing, at least not without intending to make a nasty reference.

"Steve Jobs came out today to pimp his new i-pony..." This is really not ever going to be an acceptable sentence in a respectable media outlet. In ten years, it will be even less acceptable, as the fad for its use will pass. In fifty years, it will probably be verbotten as its ugly racist overtones become more obvious.

And this is a good thing. Because we don't WANT ugly words to lose their ugly connotations. We need words like 'pimping' for those situtations when 'pimping' is exactly the right ugly word to use.

To claim that 'pimping' doesn't mean anything now among the young and hip is to claim the word doesn't have any flavor anymore and that all the juice has run out of it. But I don't think this is true. I think it's the young and hip who don't have any flavor or juice, if they think an ugly word like 'pimping' is OK to use in any situation. If 'pimping' is not an ugly word, than what word is?

"His boss is a real slave-driver."

Negative connotation, and the literal profession of act of enforcing servitude on another human being is, of course, despicable. However, it's a quite commonly used expression.

"Pimped out"? To this 28-year-old's ears, having heard that phrase used many times with about the same level of pejorative intent, it doesn't register much higher with me than "Slave-driver" on the abusiveness scale. In time I'm sure the phrase will lose most of its shock value as the under-25 population continues to age, as do almost all shocking words as they are integrated into mainstream language.

There are no ugly words. We describe stuff, then we describe other stuff by analogy. At no point should any of it be out of bounds unless the sentiment itself is dangerous.

If you can't use the language of prostitution to describe marketing and propaganda (even though I think Shuster's comment was mean -- there's nothing that unseemly about using your shy adult daughter for a cause she surely believes in) then we've granted those ideas undue weight.

There are far too many whores, pimps, hucksters, and shills in American politics. What other words would you suggest that we use to smoke them out with? It's a nasty business, but being president means you have to take what we say about you unless it's a threat. I wish Clinton had backed off sooner and I wish people didn't believe that there are ugly words that just shouldn't be uttered -- it creates a rhetorical blind spot that politicians are all too happy to exploit/use/whore out.

I don't think you understand. There are ugly situations and there need to be words to describe them.

If "pimp" is to be used for any sort of promotional activity, then it loses its negative connotation and can't be used to describe ugly things.

Some words should always be ugly. "Fuck off" should always mean "Fuck off" and not, "Now I bring you ice cream." It loses its flavor when it loses its shock value.

The other poster gave the example of slavery. But slavery isn't quite the same thing. Slavery isn't an evident problem in our time, while pimping and abusing women very much still is.

The pimp is also a racial stock figure, just imagine calling Obama a 'pimp.' But you could call either Obama or Clinton a slave driver with invoking racial imagery--that's because slave owners are not racial stock figures.

To claim that 'pimping' doesn't mean anything now among the young and hip is to acknowledge reality. You can go on and on about how any given word is sacred in its vulgarity, but it won't change the reality of the situation.

The word 'pimp' as a verb is part of the mainstream lexicon, and your example
of Steve Jobs using it is in line with common usage. Language evolves, even if you won't.

The pimp is also a racial stock figure, just imagine calling Obama a 'pimp.'

I'm pretty sure any guy under the age of 40 would consider that a huge compliment. It has nothing to do with race, at all. In this day and age, a "pimp" is a man who enjoys great success with women. It's the same thing as saying a man is suave, or charming, or smooth. Men of every race strive to attain this.

that's because slave owners are not racial stock figures.

Actually, any mention of slavery at all is automatically a VERY racially charged statement.