What does... "commis" actually mean?

In his column "What does... actually mean?", Benno Maggi looks at terms from the marketing and communications sector. This time he deals with the term "Kommis".

Modern meaning

This abbreviation was already cute during the Cold War. Although the commies were the bad guys back then. And they still are today. Back then, commies still stood for communists. Today there are hardly any left. And the ones that are still around live and work in distant and exotic countries. Nevertheless, the word is very popular again. But with a different meaning and origin.

Today, commies are not believers in a political-economic ideology based on the abolition of private property and the creation of a classless society in which goods are held in common and distributed according to need. Today, commies are mainly fields that encourage readers to express their opinions publicly in the digital media with a hearty speech bubble at the end of the article. And they are the capital of participants in social media. The more of them I have under my post, the better. In contrast to the old commis, there are good guys and bad guys. The good ones are the ones that make you feel totally unsuccessful, especially on LinkedIn, with so much success posted. Prefabricated like commis: Well done! Congrats! Keep up the good work! Fantastic! But also self-made, somewhat more detailed comments that lead to the release of endorphins and the associated feeling of euphoria or well-being. The bad ones are the ones that are posted with unbridled aggression and often encourage followers to lose their sense of decency.

Better no commis than bad commis

So the next time you're annoyed that your post on social media hasn't been commented on, take comfort in the fact that it could be even worse. Although ignorance is actually the ultimate punishment in real life, it is salutary on social media. What goes uncommented on generates less attention. That's why we should refrain from adding the request "write it in the comments" to posts. And certainly not believe that we can change anything with our comments. We leave this claim to the communists, who often strive for a revolutionary transformation of society in order to achieve the creation of a classless society. Because if everyone is allowed to make everything public, then no one will listen to anyone. Opinions are different from capital. In other words, the bad guys are supposedly the good guys, but they still remain the bad guys.


Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.

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