apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Hot or Not? Craigslist Words


 
 

Tags

Hot or Not?

Related Links

Share

Comments (28)

"Dinette set" is a phrase best left to Bob Barker and the Showcase Showdown.

posted by Chris on 2004-12-07 11:15:53

I really want to pick "E--all of the above."

posted by derek on 2004-12-07 11:17:22

What I find most objectionable is the word "modern" used to describe furniture that would look dated in a Three's Company episode.

posted by rr on 2004-12-07 11:34:46

The Killer Danish Modern listings, that are ALWAYS on Craigslist, something andale. It also has in it Eames Era. So it has both annoying terms.

posted by MRoman on 2004-12-07 12:02:58

At least "dinette set" means what it actually is.

posted by patrick on 2004-12-07 12:31:28

"butter soft" sounds perverse. i don't like it. call me a prude.

posted by seema on 2004-12-07 12:36:23

My older sister was born in 1956. I guess I should refer to her as "Eames Era" instead of middle-aged.

Just for giggles, I did a search on Yahoo for Eames Era and there are 48,300 results, including a band from Baton Rouge named The Eames Era. It could be worse, they could be called Post Modern.

posted by Lori on 2004-12-07 14:16:39

i hated killer the most because it-just-does-not-say-ANYTHING.

and why is it butter soft? butter is a solid oil eating and cooking product. when did they start making furniture out of that?

posted by claire on 2004-12-07 14:23:29

I feel like "butter soft" is something an aging broadway queen would coo while stroking his overweight cat's underbelly. Yuck.

posted by em on 2004-12-07 15:00:07

im guilty of using "butter soft" in a craigslist ad, but i have an excuse because thats the word someone on ebay used to sell me the sofa in the first place.

what about "beautiful"?

posted by baruch on 2004-12-07 15:21:32

Based on the rock-hard turkey shaped butter mold my mother set out at Thanksgiving, I'm going to have to say "butter soft" is pretty malfunctory (that's one of my made-up words).

Now, velvety soft...that's a whole new ballgame.

posted by Seyfarth on 2004-12-07 15:38:01

"Killer" sounds like something a stoned surfer would say, and stoned surfers don't know much.

posted by Shana on 2004-12-07 16:36:59

Honestly, the adjective "killer" is a complete turn off, right up there with "sweet." I wonder who this person thinks is going to jump at the item described this way....like, Wow, this isn't just any old Eames-era, butter-soft, dinette set, it's a KILLER Eames-era, butter-soft dinette set -- I'll TAKE it!!

posted by peter on 2004-12-07 17:39:30

the band "The Eames Era" is actually pretty good.

posted by karen on 2004-12-07 18:03:16

I wish there were the misspellings too..
like dInning table. And rod iron patio furniture. But my favorite is the leather oddmen I saw for sale in San Fran. hmmm....

posted by trouble on 2004-12-08 01:23:21

Dinette sounds awfully tacky. The feminine, diminutive version of diner? Dining? Dinner? It's like saying "stemware" instead of wine glasses.

posted by GA on 2004-12-08 08:37:20

leather oddmen for sale in San Fran are completely different from a piece of furniture. Leather oddmen enjoy things butter soft.....

posted by spanky on 2004-12-08 10:49:48

I've been guilty of using two of those terms--dinette as in "dinette/kitchen set" for a 50s kitchen set I had to sell--although dinette isn't may word of choice, when you write a title you want to put words in that people would search by--not too many people search by typing in butter soft or killer, though, I imagine.

And I've used Eames Era often on ebay, even though I know it's overused. I do it for something genuinely mid century in style--not like the many people who put Deco in the title for anything that's old and crappy.

Does anyone have a better word to put in the title? I'm up for it if there is one--it needs to be a word or phrase that almost anyone looking for 50s era furniture would use.

posted by zb on 2004-12-08 10:53:35

Another phrase for "Eames Era" is "50s". . . we don't need to euphemize everything. Stand strong. Honesty in advertising is underrated.

posted by BB on 2004-12-08 11:15:22

true, BB, but there are so many versions of 50s being used on ebay--50s, 50's, fifties, 1950s, 1950's--we need a standard!!!

posted by zb on 2004-12-08 11:46:07

I am despondent that "shabby chic" didn't make the list. Any write-in votes?

posted by ann on 2004-12-08 12:08:04

I love that the Eames era stretches from FLLW's earliest works in the 1890's to Formica monstrosities from 1983. As a term it's really lost all meaning on ebay/craigslist. Next we'll see ads for "Killer Eames Era Nixon/Agnew Campaign Button -- Very unique!"

posted by Jimbo on 2004-12-08 13:40:59

I second the write-in comment regarding shabby chic.

Let's simplify things for everyone and call it what it truly is... SHABBY.



posted by Anne on 2004-12-08 17:55:03

Why does everyone care so much about Craigslist?! Don't you all have something better to do than ponder the prudish possibilities of "buttery soft"?

posted by Pico on 2004-12-10 14:31:51

I love how both posters complaining about people's stoners double-clicked the Post button.

You need to only click it once.

posted by Dustin on 2004-12-10 15:20:50

o, don't be so mean! .... speaking of "killer", yeah they are a good band.

posted by surfer world champion on 2004-12-10 15:51:14

I must have slept all the way through the 50's....
who or what the heck is Eames anyway??? As for misspellings, I kinda enjoyed the Ebay auction for a Seth Thomas cock.

posted by Maggie on 2004-12-22 22:33:14

There is nothing more annoying than trying to find actual Eames products on eBay. You have to advance search and get rid of "era" and "-like" and "style" for any hope of narrowing it down. "Eames Era" is a violation of the keyword spamming policy and it drives me insane. Especially when you see the junk they are calling Eames Era. Panton is another abused one.

I kind of like "killer". It reminds me of the time my friend mixed Coca Cola and Blueberry Slurpees into one, took one slurp, looked up and said "mmmm...killer!" Of course, she is a stoner...

posted by becky on 2005-03-08 21:27:35

Feeds

RSS icon New York

+ City Feeds