Frenemy
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"Frenemy" (sometimes spelled "frienemy") is a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy" which can refer to either an enemy disguised as a friend or to a partner who is simultaneously a competitor.[1] The latter can describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions. The word may have appeared in print as early as 1953.[2]
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[edit] People
In personal relationships, the use of the term "frenemy" has become increasingly used to describe two (or more) people who are apparently friends, but are actually enemies. Such relationships may occur due to the desire (of either) to keep a close eye on the actions of the other (i.e. keep your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer).[citation needed]
It is commonly used to describe two people who are apparently friends, but actually dislike each other. This may be because they feel the need to keep up appearances, or because they do not want to lose mutual friends. Often both people know they are in a "frenemy" style relationship, while sometimes, only one party feels that way.[citation needed]
Alternatively, two people who are apparently enemies may actually be friends in private, with the apparently hostile relationship portrayed in order to deceive third parties, or for other forms of gain. Such an arrangement may even be used to cover up a secret relationship between the two parties, or the two people might actually love and hate each other simultaneously.[citation needed]
A Businessweek article stated that frenemies in the workplace are common, due to increasingly informal environments and the "abundance of very close, intertwined relationships that bridge people's professional and personal lives ... [while] it certainly wasn't unheard of for people to socialize with colleagues in the past, the sheer amount of time that people spend at work now has left a lot of people with less time and inclination to develop friendships outside of the office".[3]
[edit] Commercial relationships
An example of a commercial "frenemy" relationship is that between Google and WPP. Sir Martin Sorrell said he counts Google as a frenemy of WPP, the ad agency empire which he built. [4] On the one hand, Google offers WPP a chance to buy cutting edge interactive ads for its clients, whereas on the other, Google makes no secret of its intentions to allow anyone to buy ads for themselves, which could disintermediate against, for instance, ad agencies.
Strategies for dealing with frenemies vary. Sorrell said at UBS Media Week's conference that he wants WPP to be Google's biggest customer, but that he knows Google sees him as competition.[5] Microsoft climbed to its market position on IBM's back, but had to go to great lengths to appease its much larger partner. Microsoft called this practice "riding the bear".[6] Similar relationships existed between PayPal and eBay (the latter of which acquired the former after unsuccessfully competing), and Facebook and MySpace.
[edit] In popular culture
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2009) |
Harlem based rapper Jim Jones has a song entitled "Frenemies" on his fourth album Pray IV Reign which addresses his strained relationships with Cam'ron and Max B.
The eighth episode of Paris Hilton's My New BFF was named "Keep your frenemies closer"
"Frenemies" was used in the popular New Radicals song, You Get What You Give - released on April 20, 1999.
The word was further popularized when used as the title of an episode in the HBO series, Sex and the City episode #46, October 1 2000, Frenemies.
A Season 5 NUMB3RS episode is titled "Frenemies."
On February 13, 2007, comedian Stephen Colbert quoted the word "frenemy" on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report during his segment "The Wørd". He used the word to describe the foreign policy between the United States and China, saying that the United States is friends with China as far as the "invisible hand of the market", but enemies, as the two nations are widely considered to be international rivals in military power. He then hosted an interview with New York Times editor Sheryl WuDunn, author of the book China Wakes, to discuss whether or not China is a "friend, enemy or frenemy" to the United States.
The Mean Girls DVD contains the following interstitial program:
- Regina: We do not have a clique problem at this school.
- Gretchen: But you do have to watch out for "frenemies".
- Cady: What are "frenemies"?
- Gretchen: Frenemies are enemies who act like friends. We call them "frenemies".
- Karen: Or "enemends".
- Gretchen: Or friends who secretly hate you, we call them "fraitors".
- Regina: [rolls eyes] That is so gay.
- Karen: [gasps] What if we called them "mean-em-aitors"?
- Regina: [scoffs]
- Gretchen: No, honey, it has to have the word "friend" in it.
- Karen: Oh...
[edit] References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary online, draft entry, December 2008
- ^ Winchell, W. (19 May 1953). "Howz about calling the Russians our Frienemies?". Nevada State Journal (Gannett Company).
- ^ Frenemies at Work, Liz Ryan, BusinessWeek, June 14, 2007.
- ^ Chris Hughes (2006-10-28).Ad and subtract Financial Times.
- ^ Staci D. Kramer (2006-12-4). Sorrell On AnyThing And Everything; Google Is The “Frenemy” paidContent.org.
- ^ Riding the Bear PBS: Nerds 2.0.1.
