The news today carried an interesting story. Billionaire Real Estate mogul Donald Trump wants to trademark the phrase he’s made famous on The Apprentice—“You’re Fired!” The Smoking Gun published the trademark application.
What would this mean if Trump’s application were successful? Theoretically, no one could use the term without license from Donald. I was fired back in July. My supervisor, who cried when he fired me, never said, “you’re fired.” But what if my next boss fires me and uses the words, “you’re fired?” Could I then turn him into Trump Properties so they could sue the company because they used the phrase without license? What will this mean for all the jobs that are being “outsourced?” You know this could be a good thing for the Bush administration. Perhaps it will help the economy. People will be able to keep their jobs without fear of hearing the words: “You’re fired!” That would be great for Bush. He’s fortunate that there are enough issues to obfuscate voters from realizing they’ll have to pay at least $3.00 to put enough gasoline into their cars to get to the polls to vote for him.
Forbes magazine says “The Donald” is worth 2 ½ billion. He told Wolf Blitzer he’s probably worth more. CNN also reports that 98% of Americans know who Trump is. With that wealth and name recognition, Trump may be on to something. I’m reminded of Lisa Beamer’s attempt to trademark the phrase “Let’s Roll” after the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. The phrase was one of the last statements her late husband, Todd Beamer. Beamer, who died when the United Airlines flight he was flying on was hijacked and crashed a Pennsylvania field, and other passengers attempted to retake the flight from the hijackers.
My friends Dan, Shawn, and I should have thought about trade marking the phrase, “HOWDY!” We used to say that in the mornings when we were all working as history teaching assistants in grad school. My office mate was a freak. A sexually harassing freak. One morning, we were all saying “HOWDY!” to one another, and my office mate shouted, “No more HOWDYs!” Of course, that simply encouraged us even more to say “HOWDY!” Boy, was he ticked off. And we were pleased. Until at the end of semester when we were informed that our contracts would not be renewed. At least they didn’t say, “You’re fired!”
