I realize I’ve never stated this clearly and unequivocally before so now it’s time to do it.
A week or so ago, you saw an email from a producer who offered to send me a free copy of his film in exchange for a good word from me on the blog. While I haven’t yet received any offers for a free gold-plated limousine (yet! :P), I do occasionally receive “quid pro quo” offers – do X for me and we’ll do Y for you – including free stays at hotels, etc.
My policy is and shall always be that I do not do anything in exchange for anything else, unless it’s publicly revealed here on the blog, out in the open, for everyone to know about it.
Therefore I declined the offer for a free film, even though it’s not a big deal, simply because I don’t work like that. I checked out the trailer and the film producers seemed like nice guys, therefore I gave them a mention. I’m always supportive of independent artists of all stripes and I’m guessing they filmed their documentary on their own dime.
All the blogs and websites I link to in my sidebar are there because I think they’re a good read. I do not get anything from them (except perhaps a link back) unless I state otherwise.
All the good words I’ve said about some organizations (Let’s Do It, Romania, Scena Deschisa, etc) are my honest opinions, not “bought” in any way.
The only products I’ve ever urged anyone to buy are my own books, which keep me in beer and skittles. I sincerely doubt I’ll ever host advertising or anything of the like as I write this blog for my own pleasure, not to pimp other people’s stuff.
Nobody has accused me of anything dishonest but just me knowing how Romania is and how Romanians (sometimes) think, just wanted to make everything crystal clear.
AND NOW YOU KNOW!
All Things Romania 
Ceea ce spui tu nu inseamna ca ambele fraze sunt unul si acelasi lucru. Sunt 2 fraze diferite care inseamna 2 lucruri diferite, chiar daca una a evoluat din cealalta. Si cu asta nu mai insist pe acest subiect. Daca vrei sa intelegi bine, daca nu, nu. Fa tu pe desteapta in continuare.
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Filosofule,
Eu iti sugeram sa pui mana pe carte, in acest caz, CNRTL, care este un portal academic de studii lingvistice, unde se explica cum s-a ajuns de la “quid pro quo” la “qui pro quo” si, in final, la “quiproquo”. Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn (Benjamin Franklin?).
Étymol. et Hist. 1370 rendre QUID pro quo, chose pour chose (Oresme, Ethiques, éd. A. D. Menut, VIII, 18, p. 447); 1458 avoir un QUID pro quo « se tromper, se laisser abuser » (A. Greban, Passion, éd. O. Jodogne, 23252); 1466 vendre QUI pro quo « abuser l’acheteur en lui vendant une chose pour une autre » (Pierre Michault, Doctrinal du temps présent, éd. Th. Walton, XXXVIII, 345); 1482 QUI pro-quo « médicament donné à la place d’un autre » (Guillaume Flamang, Vie St Didier, éd. J. Carnandet, 421); 1541 QUI pro quod « confusion consistant à prendre une chose pour une autre » (Calvin, Institution, éd. J.-D. Benoît, III, IV, p. 107). Loc. de lat. médiév. QUI pro quod, QUI pro quo ou QUID pro quo signifiant « quelque chose pour quelque chose » utilisée notamment dans la lang. de la pharm. pour désigner la substitution, volontaire ou non, d’un médicament à la place d’un autre (Sain. Lang. Rab., t. 1, p. 403; Du Cange). Fréq. abs. littér.: 61.
http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/quiproquo
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Mihaela, încerc sa iti explic aici ca exista o diferență intre QUID pro quo si QUI pro quo si tu tot acefala insisti sa ramai. Credeam ca o sa asimilezi mai repede, ca am vazut ca ai mintea odihnita, dar degeaba :(
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Mihaela, Quid Pro Quo is a VERY WELL KNOWN latin expression, dating thousands of years, while quiproquo is a vulgar SLANG in latin related languages, dating probably from the 1800’s actor’s guild. In other words google helps you but doesn’t make you smarter. I am still disappoint.
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You have no idea how wrong you truly are! Cu alte cuvinte, ai vorbit ca proasta-n targ. I learned this word long before the Internet era, when philosophers, unlike you, used to read books, in the public library, not play the smartass in front of a screen.
FYI
In French:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/quiproquo
Jean de Guardia, Poétique de Molière: comédie et répétition
http://books.google.com/books?id=eQRwWuCyOMsC&lpg=PA38&ots=C5skxe92Da&dq=quiproquo%20moliere&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false
In Romanian:
Antoaneta Tanasescu, Anatomia dramaticului:
http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/filologie/tanasescu/4.htm
(in older writings – an example is the link to prof. Antoaneta Tanasescu’s article – the word appears split “qui-pro-quo” and this is how I learned it, but, in DEX ’98, is recorded as a single word and this is how I prefer to use it now)
Henry Bergson, Teoria rasului (traducere din franceza)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50506228/2/Capitolul-II
p.s. My intention was to play with words. I am not sure what your intention was.
And.. if you don’t mind, ALL so called Romance languages come from “vulgar Latin”, not from “classical Latin.” Following your logic, we should all talk like Cicero now. Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?! :)
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So basically the clicks from your blog were the cheapest advertisement for the movie: you didn’t even cost them the freebie they offered. Because you were nice enough to mention them. Their strategy was the lowest-ballish I’ve seen.
On the other hand, had you not have bothered to make any mention at all, it would have sounded (between you and the producer, because there was no way we could have known) as reverse psychology (the full-blown reverse psychology would have been your ranting against the movie, which would still have been a form of advertising, and sometimes even negative ads do work). Now, between these two, there is a thin line which hasn’t yet been discovered, as far as I know.
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Son, I explained what my policy is, which is I don’t take free shit for saying nice things. I wish these fellows well on their movie but I feel wrong in receiving a free copy just to write up a blog post about it. If I could buy it, I would, you know why? Because they got bills to pay too and need money, just like most of us do.
I get emails all the time for me to link to things, or talk about their products or blogs or restaurants or organizations, and I turn a lot of ’em down. I write about what I think is worth writing about and never do it because there’s something “in it” for me.
Furthermore, I wrote out my policy on quid pro quo precisely because I’ve got a lot more to say on many topics in the future, and I want it crystal clear that I do it out of my honest beliefs, not anything else. Might not seem worth setting forth to you right now, but it is to me, because I know when I’m “bigger” a lot of people will have suspicions.
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Thanks for clarification. I wasn’t implying anything, I was merely theorizing (advertising is one of my pet peeves, even in this form.)
Reminds me of that old Russian tale in which a young man riding a horse finds a wonderful bird feather on the road. Should he take it or not? When he asks an old man passing by, he answers “if you take it, you’ll regret. But if you don’t take it, you’ll also regret”. And then the tale goes on with him showing the feather to his master, who obviously sends him to get the bird.
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This Latin expression (quid pro quo) became “quiproquo” in French. It means misunderstanding (when you mistaken one thing for another). It is a common technique in comic theater. More than one century ago, the word was borrowed in Romanian, with the same spelling like in French: quiproquo.
So, just to avoid the “quiproquo”, you gave us your “quid pro quo” policy. :)
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Mihaela, I am disappoint!
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?
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Mihaela, I am impress!
I had no clue about that. Now I do. #absorbsknowledge
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