Uber used to be spot on with their messaging, at least at in New York City. I wonder if this would have happened had David Plouffe's not left [1].

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/10/yes-z-can/

OT: Someone I know this past year called themselves a (former) "baller". They used to be a big time partier and drug user -- a (mostly, distortedly) functioning addict. A lot of coke, among other things.

I initially thought of "eight ball", which does feature in one of their more dramatic stories. But apparently the term has other or mixed provenance. And things like the urban dictionary provide multiple definitions.

Just what is a "baller?" From origins perhaps in basketball to urban street culture to drug culture... to modern day "hard ass", type A or whatever? Just what do people mean when they call themselves or someone else a "baller"?

I was thinking of the more general sense of being showing off your wealth and connections to gain social status. I don't have strong opinions about his person, I just think his public persona has been a liability this time because it led people to assume the worst.

Yes, thanks. :-) But I recall at the time looking at multiple definitions in Urban Dictionary, and definitions elsewhere, and they varied significantly.

It seems to be one of those terms that depends significantly on the specific context within / to which it is applied. Yet people will just say "baller" -- like my acquaintance -- and leave you to fill in the background. In other words, you have to be in the know, to know what they are really saying.

Which, IIRC, per some of the definitions I encountered, is actually part of its definition. :-/

A baller is someone who spends a lot of money, lives lavishly, etc.

An eight ball is 3.5 grams of coke, AKA an 1/8 of an ounce.

Are you sure eight ball is related? OED thinks "baller" comes from the wealth of sports figures: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/06/ballin-for-real/

I didn't mean to imply that. They're not related.

It sure ain't poor people like me snorting coke off a hooker's butt.