Thread: procurement

Hi,
Another thing I came across and got puzzled. Procurement. What do you say 'Procurement of/for the wheels and chairs' if you mean that you purchase them for someone else? Ex., The first thing Tod and Berry are going to discuss is procurement of/for wheels and chairs. (i.e. Tod is likely to purchase wheels and chairs for his retro car (retromobile) from Berry if the price suits him). What is the correct preposition in this example, may I ask?

It is business jargon and it refers to a company buying something. Or when you buy something for something else. It's the process of buying something. More complicated than just buying. If you ask 10 native English speaking people, I'd say that at least 5 can not tell you what this word means.

Large companies sometimes have procurement departments. That is the department that deals with buying things for that company. I am not sure that there is a verb called "procure", if there is, I never use it...

If you say like in your example "procurement of wheels for the 30 tonne lorry" that means the process of locating, purchasing (buying) and delivering the wheels. It's not done in a jiffy, it will take some time to find the right wheels, have them delivered, fitted etc.

Hope that explains!

Dear Hanna,
In fact, I am well aware of the use of the word 'procurement'. Perhaps, I've given a wrong example. Imagine, Tod represents a business entity. Berry also does it. They are both owners of their businesses. The thing is the preposition, either 'of' or 'for', we should use when talking about things like that. Just grammar. Thank you for your quote, anyway.
It came to me, it was better use the verb 'supply' in my previous example: 'Tod and Berry are going to discuss supply of wheels and chairs for Tod's retro car'.

Originally Posted by perepelini

... Procurement. What do you say 'Procurement of/for the wheels and chairs' ..

This looks like the question of cases. 'Procurement of x' genetive, 'procurement for y' dative.

Genetive 'I'm researching the procurement of office supplies for ...'
Dative 'I'm involved in supplies procurement for our brach office at yyy.'

В русском языке есть замечательное кондовое слово: снабжение, отсюда снабженец.

И глагол снабжать (несовершенный)? Интересно

In old-fashioned and literary English, "procurer" was often used as a euphemistic way of saying "pimp"!

It even had a feminine form: A "procuress" was not a lady who worked in the procurement division of a corporation, but a woman who would arrange for another woman (or a rent-boy, I suppose) to sleep with you for money. Thus, "a madam" in the sense of "a woman who manages a brothel".

Nowadays, one would only see this usage in literature from before the 20th century, or in modern parodies of such literature.

But regarding the original question, I agree with Seraph's example: "I'm interested in the procurement of about two dozen whores (female and male, in an assortment of colors) for our company's holiday party on 17 December."

100 points to Throbert! Explanation of the month!

Thank you, Throbber!