Rockstar Freelancers
I’m not going to go into my loathing of buzzwords here – I’m saving that for another post – but today, I saw someone referring once again to a new form of online worker: the “Rockstar Freelancer”.
Now, as best I can tell, the term was coined by the Freelance Switch site, as the title for their very popular eBook. For me, however, it serves as a reminder of just how careful writers must be in choosing their words. (Incidentally, “rock star” is two words, not one, but that’s just me being picky.)
Every generation has its own vocabulary, mostly in an attempt to distinguish itself from the previous one. Sometimes, the words slip into common parlance – like a lot of the 1960s surfer slang – but there is still a danger of being misunderstood by people unfamiliar with a term or folks from another country.
In other cases, words become colloquialisms. These are even riskier for an author, because readers may have no idea at all what the word means. This can even be true for readers from the same country, where a local term is used for something: a great example I ran across in France was a colleague who used the word chocolatine for a pain au chocolat. He was from Toulouse, and Parisians didn’t understand what he meant.
The accepted usage for “Rockstar Freelancer” is for someone who is talented, creative and – of course – very cool, hip and modern. The reference to the idolisation of music stars is obvious, as well as the appeal of said stars to a young audience with similar aspirations of cool. The idea is to conjure an image of a sexy, smart entrepreneur who looks something like this:
Unfortunately, not everyone uses the words “rock music” in the same way. For example, I grew up as part of a generation for which “rock” is generally a bland or even derogatory term. If someone were to refer to an individual as a “Rockstar Freelancer”, my mental image would look much more like this:
Of course, fans of the Rolling Stones will argue that they’re just as sexy and fabulous as Ms. Simpson – and that’s precisely my point: by all means, use the terms – but don’t be surprised if the reaction isn’t quite what you expected!
Who do you think of when someone uses the term “Rockstar”?
For better results – put the Stones CD on the stereo and Jessica Simpson on the TV. Though, neither are really my type. But, you’ve got to respect the Stones.
As to your post which seems to be a backlash against the term ‘rockstar…’
I don’t think it’s even a colloquialism so much as it is jargon. In fact, this is the first time I’ve heard the term. But maybe that’s just because I’ve never been to that neck of the Internet.
Not a backlash, more a case of thoughts about being careful with terminology, jargon, slang and so on. I like your idea for the music, though…!
I’m really looking forward to your financial report tomorrow. “My Name is Pie” practically has me slavering for news.
I don’t know where you’re coming from spike. Myself, I’m a student of the classics. The decay of literature has been ongoing for several centuries. Even in my life time I saw it go from ‘magazine’ to ‘blog’ to ‘Twitter’. (Can it get worse than Twitter?) However, as an optimist I like to state that there was likely far more crap out there than most of us care to think – which has yellowed and crumbled away into dust as no one cared to preserve or reprint. But… if you really look into some of the original writings of artists around Shakespeare’s day, give or take a few centuries, and you’ll find that writers were not anal about spelling or grammar (instead of calling yourself a spelling or grammar Nazi, you go with spelling or grammar ass?
I’m sure the grammar Jews would find it less offensive. Pardon my humor, no ill meant by it.). If you ever get an unedited version of works from that era, you’ll see what I mean. Thomas Wyatt, a favorite of mine, didn’t even spell his name consistently. I wondered at the time if that was related to the fact that English used to inflect nouns when it was closer to its Germanic roots on tense rather than verbs as it inherited many of its attributes from the French. I never found the answer to that question.
Hey Steven! The book news will be mostly silent: nothing’s happened on that front yet, at all: hopefully it just takes time to get noticed…
I think (from your comment) that you took this post as a complaint about the language developing and changing. It was actually intended as just a quick thought about choosing terms carefully: for example, since you’d never heard the term, you could have a completely different idea to the one intended – which could be disastrous for the person using it. See what I mean?
That was it, really. Not at all deep! Oh, and yes – there’s definitely worse than Twitter: txtspeak…!
Re: Grammar Nazis – I actually don’t mind changes in the language, new words or even ebonics, txtspeak and bad grammar in a blog or where appropriate (games, quick notes, SMS texting, etc.). I admit to being a bit of an ass when it comes to “proper” published stuff, though, simply because it doesn’t take much more effort to get it right and mistakes make the publication look stupid.
Yeah – ‘rockstar freelancer’ sounds like a freelancer who follows a rock star – or, a rock star who freelances. I had no idea it was the term used to describe popular freelancers.
Hi,
Have you tried “Rockstar” energy drink! Based on your explanation rockstar (or rock star)
for energy drink make more sense.
AJ
Hello Spike, are you a freelance writer from Kenya? Am also from Kenya and I need to get help on how to publish my book. Any help you could offer, I would be grateful. Thanks.
Steven: One of those daft terms that pops up on Google…
AJ: I avoid energy drinks for the most part as they don’t seem to work very well. A good cup of coffee has far more effect – but I think I have indeed seen adverts for “Rockstar”. So many products following in the wake of the X-Factor (and its ilk), hoping to cash in on the desperation of young singing hopefuls!
Ken: I’m UK-based, as it says in my bio. Book publishing is an enormous subject and one with which there are people far more familiar than I. What would be a good starting point? Not sure – perhaps Anne could help you with a few resources – she generally has a big list and good advice!