Dictionary definition of “sweethearting”

sweethearting

n. the granting of special favors or privileges, especially to friends or family; in retail, the giving of unauthorized discounts or the abetting of shoplifting or other theft; the giving of a sweetheart deal. Subjects: English, Business, Crime & Prisons, Retail

Editorial Note: A more established sense of sweethearting is ‘courting or wooing.’ Etymological Note: This is a natural outgrowth from existing uses of the attributive and adjectival sweetheart ‘privileged, exclusive, or preferential’ such as in sweetheart deal ‘a special, exclusive offer or arrangement.’

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Citations: 1965 Jerry Landauer Wall Street Journal (Sept. 23) “Coal ‘Sweethearts’: UMW Tolerates Pay, Royalties Below Scale In More Small Mines” p. 1: In the classic “sweetheart” situation, corrupt union leaders accept or extort payoffs from employers in exchange for assuring labor peace or winking at contract violations.…[p. 14] The number of employers paying remarkably low sums into the pension fund yields one indication of how many pensions “sweethearting” may threaten. 1987 Paul Moloney Toronto Star (Can.) (Jan. 26) “Chairman vows to expose thefts at liquor stores” p. A7: People come into the store and buy a bottle at a certain price and the cashier rings up a different product at a much lower price. They call that sweethearting in the trade, and that goes on. 2001 Security (Feb. 1) “Monitoring System” vol. 38, no. 2, p. 42: POS/EM Plus helps eliminate employee theft at up to four registers per unit by detecting, documenting and deterring fraud, collusion, sweethearting, coupon misredemption and cash theft. 2001 Mike Hendry Smart Card Security and Applications (Apr. 1) 2 ed., p. 255: Insiders, typically employees of the card issuer or scheme operator, have opportunities to copy, analyze, or steal data and hardware, or to give special privileges or benefits to their friends (sweethearting). 2002 David D. Perlmutter Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pa.) (July 10) “The Culture Of ‘Unethics’” p. A9: I’m sure he thinks of himself as an honorable man. And so do they all, big and small:…Bernard Ebbers of WorldCom (suspected of sweethearting himself a $366 million loan). 2005 Jeff Morris Multichannel Merchant (June 1) “Minding the Store” vol. 22, no. 6, p. 44: One of the primary methods used by employees is “sweethearting,” theft carried out by collusion between an employee and a customer. It is so named because it most often occurs between a cashier and his family members or friends. With sweethearting, a cashier may fail to charge the customer for some items or may ring up only one item of a multiple purchase.

Posted 29 Jul 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend