Butter them up?

Reader question:

Please explain “butter-up” in this passage:

Andre had to rush over and really butter-up her clients to keep them from being angry. One woman was so upset she had to offer her a free manicure to shut her up.

My comments:

It means Andre, owner of, say, a beauty parlor, had to bribe her customers with free manicures (and such like) to keep them quiet.

Lest, you know, they badmouth her services in front of other customers, strangers in the street, in the newspapers or over the Internet.

In other words, Andre was extra nice to them by buttering them up. Free manicures are not often offered, of course. She is, after all, in the business of making money, not providing free services to the public.

Anyways, “butter up” is a phrase that originates from the dinner table. First, people simply butter up the bread by swiping butter over it to enrich its flavor.

Then the term spread to other areas. And so, figuratively speaking, when you butter other people up, you flatter them. You praise them and generally be extra nice to them in order to get their help or support, or just so that they’ll like you.

In the same way you butter up the bread to enrich your eating experience, you butter other people up to get something in return. In other words, you’re currying favors.

Hence this term sometimes contains more or less sinister connotations, which often are implied in the situations it is used. For instance, people are often seen to butter up their clients (as described in the example from the top), their bosses (to beat another colleague, for instance, to a coveted position), government officials (in order to win a public project), voters (lest they vote for somebody else), etc and so forth.

Here are recent media examples:

1. Ramifications of the Japan crisis will continue to be felt around the world as it sinks in that a load of electronic components are sourced there. There is speculation that the iPad 2 might be in short supply as a result, and that the iPhone 5 may be delayed.

There’s a perfectly respectable response that goes “so what, people are dying here and terrified”. This is a financial/business blog, though, so our focus is elsewhere - although the Red Cross will naturally welcome all donations.

Acer has confirmed that it has enough inventory for three months, while other companies are starting to stockpile components where they can.

This will almost certainly lead to shortages of (for example) computer memory, and shortages will inevitably push prices up.

The lack of certain types of memory will hit mobile product manufacturers particularly hard. Apple, because of its importance in the market, is likely to be prioritized as everyone will want to butter up their biggest customer. Others won’t be so lucky so we can expect a series of products expected this year which, in the event, appear a little later and at a higher cost.

- Japan crisis to hit electronics, DailyFinance.co.uk, March 21, 2011.

2. GETTING AHEAD AT WORK: It can take more than business accomplishments to get you a prominent appointment in the corporate world.

Fawning behavior was more likely to help company executives get appointments to a board of directors, according to a recent study. That was particularly true for historically underrepresented groups such as minorities and women, said study author Ithai Stern, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Similar forms of subtle flattery could also help employees move up the corporate ladder, he said. The more effective forms of buttering up bosses and influential peers were disguised, and thus less likely to be seen as scheming or manipulative, according to the study.

Some of his recommendations for effective buttering up of bosses and influential peers:

- Do not express admiration directly. One manager interviewed in the study suggested couching a compliment in a question by asking, “How were you able to pull off that strategy so successfully?”

- Another strategy is to preface flattery by emphasizing your target’s modesty. Some examples from the study: “You’re going to hate me for saying this, but...” or “I don’t want to embarrass you, but...”

- Spreading compliments about the person you wish to influence to others in his or her network, with the hope that word gets back to your contact.

- Telling your manager if you share similar values or belong to similar groups, such as a religious organization or political party.

- How to butter up bosses, AP, August 24, 2010.

3. FOR decades Republicans and Democrats alike have bemoaned “frontloading”: the unseemly scramble among states to move their presidential primaries or caucuses earlier and earlier in election year, in the hope of exerting greater influence over the national result. As states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, which jealously guard the prerogative of going first, respond in kind, the point at which the nomination tends to be decided has retreated from June to March. For a time it looked as if the 2008 primary season might actually slide backwards into 2007, steeping even the Christmas holidays in election mania. In the end, Iowa went first on January 3rd. But that may have marked frontloading’s high tide. Although a few states are still trying to jump in early this time round, a concerted effort by the national leadership of both the Republicans and Democrats, and a desperate squeeze on state budgets, may actually succeed in delaying the primary schedule for once.

Uppity legislators in Michigan and Missouri have introduced bills to advance their primaries. But it is Florida, a habitual offender, which is causing the most fuss by trying to hold its primary in January. This violates rules set by both the Democratic and Republican National Committees, which co-ordinate the nominating process and organize the conventions that make the result official. The two parties have barred January primaries, and want only the four habitual starters—Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina—to hold their contests in February. All other states are supposed to wait until the first Tuesday in March at the earliest.

The Republicans have tried to give the laggards extra clout by barring states with primaries in March from using a winner-takes-all voting system. Perhaps more compelling will be the penalties for going early: the loss of half of the offending state’s votes at the convention, which is due to take place in Tampa, Florida, in August 2017. Also at risk, the RNC says, are perks such as plum seating and accommodation at the convention and extra passes for guests: not trivial things, as state parties use them to butter up big donors.

- The high tide of frontloading has passed and now seems to be ebbing, The Economist, April 20, 2011.

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.