partsumer
n.— «It’s called fractional ownership, which dates to the 1960s time shares, Fortune (March 12) reports. In 1986, NetJets sparked a high-end trend when it began selling shares of planes, after which luxury resorts got into the act and, before you knew it, “time share” wasn’t a bad word anymore. “Now the range of asset-sharing arrangements aimed at the well-heeled has expanded to include not only vineyards but golf, handbags, jewelry, yachts and autos.” But the advent of “partsumers,” as they are called, is also changing some basic attitudes toward ownership and consumption.» —“Who says rich don’t share?” St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota) Mar. 11, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...