Complete and Utter Zebu

Stuck at lights, I found myself staring at a sign reading “MINI Cherished” outside a car showroom. Cherished? What on earth were they talking about? And then it struck me. “Cherished” is their way of saying “second-hand”.

Looking on their website, they claim it’s a special sort of high-class second-hand, but second-hand is what they mean but can’t bring themselves to say. Do they really expect us to believe that each one of these cars has only ever been driven by someone who kept it under a special cover, waxed it every Sunday and never once exceeded the speed limit?

Heaven help us. “Cherished” is even worse than “pre-enjoyed”, common in the United States and just beginning to rear its oh-so-ugly head over here. If only they’d cherish the language more.