Ask the Best and Brightest: When Was the Last Time You Heard "The Cadillac of . . .?"
This morning’s New York Times had a jarring headline: “A Proposed Tax on the Cadillac Health Insurance Plans May Also Hit the Chevys.” I swear I thought they meant The Gray Lady was referring to a tax on Cadillac workers’ health care plan. To these admittedly jaundiced eyes (ew), “Hit the Chevys” sounds like something a GMC executive does when sales slide. “Hey, what’s wrong with Joe? Same as it ever was. Hitting the Chevys again? Yup.” Anyway, I can’t remember the last time I heard the phrase “The Cadillac of . . .” (Longtime readers may recall that I made this observation previously when the installation guy referred to my new KitchenAid as “The Lexus of dishwashers.”) When was the last time you heard the Cadillac comparison, and to what did it refer? What, if anything, has replaced it? Meanwhile, if Buick is “The Class of World Class” where does that leave Cadillac? I think the Beatles did a song about that.
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My grandfather still calls things the "Cadillac" of this and that. Odd, considering he'll drive Lincolns until the day he dies. Cadillacs are what my grandmother drives, and in his mind for good reason.
The phrase was used by a WAMU (DC NPR station) reporter during the local segment of Morning Edition this very AM. Surprise, surprise, it was in connection with a health insurance plan.
Here is an obscure one: Sometime in the mid-1990s, Reverend Norb, a prominent columnist for MAXIMUMROCKNROLL got fired for using the phrase "the Cadillac of vaginas" in a column. The editors thought it was too sexist. It ended up creating a pretty big controversy in the punk scene for a few months. -Ken
"Koblog : September 21st, 2009 at 8:45 pm The “Cadillac” Health Insurance program is what Congress has specifically reserved to itself [s]and Federal workers[/s], while the rest will get the DMV with bedpans." There, fixed it for you. Federal Civil Service retiree.