BANKABLE


Meaning of BANKABLE in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈbæŋkəbl ]

adjective (Business World) (Lifestyle and Leisure) Certain to bring in a profit; good for the box office (said of a production which is sure to succeed or of a star whose name alone will ensure the success of the venture). Etymology: Formed by adding the adjectival suffix -able to bank. The adjective bankable already existed in the sense 'receivable at a bank'; this show-business use rests on a pun, in that the producer can bank on a profit which in turn can be banked. History and Usage: Bankable has been used in this sense in Hollywood jargon since the fifties. During the seventies it increasingly featured in popular magazine articles about film-making and became popularized still further in the eighties by wider reporting of the processes which precede the actual making of a film. As the Hollywood-style hype was applied to other areas of the arts (writing, music, etc.), it became commonplace to read about bankable names in these fields as well. Sales of the chosen book may rocket. I say 'may' deliberately because I am not so sure how bankable all the shortlist are. Bookseller 20 Oct. 1984, p. 1705 Becoming highly bankable, Allen discovered, meant becoming instantly popular with incipient entrepreneurs. New Yorker 29 Apr. 1985, p. 61

English colloquial dictionary, new words.      Английский разговорный словарь - новые слова.