Can a "Prefix" be a "Descriptive Term"? The word for today is "compliance." After receiving a
friendly reminder letter from the board of REALTORS®, it seems
it may be time for a little adjustment to the nomenclature used around these parts. Someone higher up seems to think that using the name "unRealtor" may be against the REALTORS® terms of service as it states that there are acceptable and unacceptable uses of the word REALTOR® which should
never be preceded by a
"descriptive term." With this in mind, we continued to use the name unRealtor, rather than Jimborealtor, Chucktownrealtor or any of the names indicated below as unacceptable because we didn't want to break the rules. Semantically, un- doesn't appear to violate these terms because un- doesn't describe anything. Moreover,
un- is defined as a
prefix or a preformative which is not a descriptive term at all. In fact, one may argue that
un- is a lack of a description, being an
affix (otherwise known as a
morpheme) which is attached to the stem of a word and
does nothing to describe the word itself.. So before we go changing anyone's name around here, we would like to ask what you think.
So I ask you readers, is un- a descriptive term?
For the record,
the unRealtor indicator really had little to do with the trademarked REALTOR® name and more to do with having (what many have said to be) an
unReal approach to real estate, having such a deep understanding of construction and property in general. The question remains a matter of both logical validity and semantic precision.
What should become of "The unRealtor?"
unReal Agent just doesn't fully capture the idea in the same way,
does it? It would take a great deal of work to go back and change every instance of
The unRealtor across the web, however if this is what we must do to comply,
so be it. Nevertheless, before we go and do this, we would like to know what you think.
I encourage anyone (even other real estate agents) to add their two cents to this debate.
Is this what the board of REALTORS® want?
We want to know what you think below about this UNREAL debate....
So I ask you readers, is un- a descriptive term?
unReal Agent just doesn't fully capture the idea in the same way, does it? It would take a great deal of work to go back and change every instance of The unRealtor across the web, however if this is what we must do to comply, so be it. Nevertheless, before we go and do this, we would like to know what you think. I encourage anyone (even other real estate agents) to add their two cents to this debate.
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