Word Spy - pink-slip party

pink-slip party

n. A party where each attendee is a person who has recently lost their job, particularly because of a failed or downsized dot-com company.

Example Citation:

Failure chic has spawned a cottage industry of failurenalia. Academics are writing books about failing. The VH-1 and E! Entertainment cable channels have shown programs about it. An Internet marketing firm called Thehiredguns.com sponsors pink-slip parties where casualties can get together and 'dot-commiserate.'
—Abby Ellin, "If at First You Don't Succeed, Celebrate!," The New York Times, August 20, 2000

Earliest Citation:

In February, two months after Canadian developer Campeau Corp. announced it would merge Jordan Marsh stores and Maas Brothers...500 Jordan employees in Miami held a lighthearted Pink Slip party.
—Bonnie Welch, "The Competition Gets Tougher All the Time," Florida Trend, April 15, 1987

Notes:

The name for these surely lugubrious fetes goes back to least the mid-80s (see the earliest citation, below). We see a few sporadic sightings through the late 80s leading up to the recession, but it doesn't take off until August of this year, when the dot-com downturn was in full effect. Apparently you just can't keep a good geek down.

Categories:

E-commerce
Layoffs and Firings

Posted on October 6, 2000