2130: Industry Nicknames

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Industry Nicknames

Title text: As far as "being in the pocket of Big Egg" goes, I think the real threat is Chansey.

Explanation

"Big industry" is a common nickname used to describe corporate concerns in the United States which have near-monopolistic control over significant areas of the economy, which allow them to wield a large amount of control over markets, as well as influencing political decisions. To be "in someone's pocket" means this entity can readily influence the subject's behavior, whether by bribery, blackmail, legal maneuvering, threats, lobbying, social influence, financial control, or any other means.

Of the 8 industries listed, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma are nicknames that are commonly used. Big Ag is less commonly used, but is increasingly visible, as agriculture is increasingly dominated by large and powerful corporations, rather than individual family farms. While the rest of these names are purely fictional, Randall could be imagining a possible future in which these industries become big players in the political arena. The mining industry may be referred to in this context by sector, as Big Coal or Big Oil (Randall uses the term "big hole", which sounds much sillier. Most, but not all, forms of mining involve large holes.) The U.S. automobile industry was until recent decades referred to as "Detroit," later meaning only the Big Three automobile manufacturers before falling out of common usage. "Big Foot" is likely a reference to the mythical creature Bigfoot. Those who have been on the rough end of how large organizations can push not only individuals but entire communities around in a mafia-like way may take issue with a medical board being equated with such groups.

Chansey, mentioned in the title text, is a type of female-only Pokémon who carries around an egg in her marsupial-like front pouch. For Chansey the phrase "in the pocket of Big Egg" would be rather literal, except that the egg is in her pocket, rather than the other way around. Randall does not specify why Chansey would be a "threat" or why a Pokémon would be bribing people. Perhaps because, if being in the pocket of Big Egg is bad, and Big Egg is in the pocket of Chansey, then Chansey controls Big Egg and is the one to worry about.

Transcript

[A line chart is shown going from left to right between two small vertical stop lines. On the line are eight dots spread out unevenly from close to each end. The most central dot is the one with furthest distance to the nearest dots, having almost the same distance in both direction the nearest dots. The other dots are in some cases very close. Beneath each dot there goes a line down to a label written beneath each line. Above the chart there is a big title and below that an explanation. Below that again, there is a small arrow pointing to the right with a label above it.]

Nicknames for Industries and Organizations

Ranked by how silly it sounds when you say someone is "In the pocket of..."

[Arrow label:]

Sillier

[Labels for the eight dots from left to right:]

Cigarette companies: "Big Tobacco"

Drug companies: "Big Pharma"

The farming industry: "Big Ag"

Automakers: "Big Car"

The International Equestrian Federation: "Big Horse"

The Board of Podiatric Medicine: "Big Foot"

The mining industry: "Big Hole"

The American Egg Board: "Big Egg"

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Discussion

While I understand the humor value of using "big" as part of each nickname, "Detroit" would be a more realistic choice instead of "Big Car" (or even "Big Auto") for the car companies. 108.162.216.208 16:04, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

I’ve never heard that referred to as Detroit or big Detroit, thought you’re right about big auto. “That Guy from the Netherlands” (talk) 16:22, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

"Detroit" (not big) was a very common way to refer to the automobile industry as a whole, long after the 1980s when most car manufacturing exited Michigan. And mining is referred to by sector, e.g., "big oil," and, "big coal," primarily. Anyway, the idiom didn't come into widespread use until the late 1970s. 162.158.255.142 20:29, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Real estate works too and rates pretty high: big house. 172.69.210.16 17:24, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Big House often refers to prison. Nutster (talk) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Big Money: banking industry? own the mortgages. 172.68.65.24 04:38, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

I, for one, welcome our new big horse overlords 162.158.255.22 18:59, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Belgians or Percherons? Nutster (talk) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Thinking of the phrase "In the pocket of," I get thinking of clothing manufacturers: Being in the pocket of big shirt, or being in the pocket of big jeans. Mind you, you could look at the genetic analysis and manipulation industries, being in the pocket of big genes. That could work best phonetically. Nutster (talk) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Those are certainly lost opportunities for this one. Similarly billiards. 162.158.255.142 20:36, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Is billiards "big pockets" or "big balls"?

Barmar (talk) 06:37, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

The Big Cheese in the Big Apple obviously spent Big Bucks persuading Randall to avoid a mention Kev (talk) 08:35, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

Some could interpret this comment as noting that Randall is in the pocket of Big Energy corporations, as he put them as "Big Hole" way over on the right near groups that have little coercive power. Communities have been devastated in conflict with energy corporations, with many many deaths, see for example Coal Wars. 172.68.65.24 04:59, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

The are ranked by how silly they sound. nothing more nothing less. And "Big Hole" does sound very silly ^{[citation needed]}

Little disappointed, here, that no one is in the pocket of Big Bird.

Or Big Kanga! 172.68.65.24 04:59, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

For those FF fans out there, I would say that a considerable amount of the protagonists are in the pocket of Big Baha. Try to start up a rival company and either you gotta join him or BAM dualcast Gigaflare to the face. You think the Warriors of Light are legitimately good people? Take a sec and think about how big of a competitor Tiamat was in the industry. Kraken? Owed Bahamut money for the set up. Chaos never paid Bahamut back for the class changes. Its a nasty world out there. 172.68.78.40 03:25, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Big Egg -> Big testicles -> Big balls -> Big baller -> big balla

Barefoot running enthusiasts on reddit/r/barefootrunning and r/barefoot regularly and non-humorously refer to the shoe industry as "Big Shoe". From this perspective, the Board of Podiatric Medicine should be termed "Big Orthotics" or "Big Foot Surgery".

I'm partial to "Big Ortho".

Why'd Randall go with "Big Horse"? In my opinion, that isn't even as silly as "Big Car". I'd say that it's quite easy to stand up for the equestrian federation and call them "Big Eq" in the spirit of Big Ag. Big Ped, though, has nothing going for it. Paralyzoid (talk) 04:03, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Near the middle, he should have had the clothing conglomerates, "Big Pants" -boB (talk) 20:39, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Is plus-size clothing Big Big & Tall? Barmar (talk) 16:18, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

The American Poultry Farmers' Association: Big Bird

KingVictorTheFirst

http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-big-egg-j Awoo is legal | (you can't) change my mind (talk) 16:12, 7 May 2019 (UTC)