I told a friend today that it was common for clients to provide a half-arsed proposal. “Oh, no,” he said. “Last time they gave us a fully-arsed proposal!” Nice use of language! But is “fully arsed” a good thing, or not?
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On my reading of the vernacular — and this is totally open to debate — the arse in “half-arsed” pertains to motivation and effort.
As individuals, our default starting point when considering an internal or external idea, suggestion or proposal is to be seated — on our arse. To be sat on our arse, literally or figuratively, is to assume static neutrallity; we are a blank canvas ready for input on things to do, or not do. Thus, being “arsed” towards an idea becomes a question of whether you’re arsed enough to get off your arse and give it a red-hot go.
That’s why, when one of your notorious trashbag friends calls you at 1am Saturday morning, just after you’ve gone bed, asking you to come out to the club and join the party, you say, “Not tonight, Paris. I couldn’t be arsed.”
And that’s also why, when being briefed on an advertising campaign, you hope the account manager has been arsed enough to give you a fully-arsed brief, and not one that seems to have everything except a single-minded proposition — that would be very half-arsed.
Here endeth the lesson.
@Stilgherrian: “Not tonight, Paris. I couldn’t be arsed.â€
Guess who you’re sitting with at the reception.
@Stephen Stockwell: I am now completely confused by the non sequiturs here. “Please explain.”
@Stilgherrian: Paris.