Please provide a definition of an ideas merchant.

As the term is most often used on the World Wide Web, an ideas
merchant (or an idea merchant) is someone who in some way or another
causes other people to think about new possibilities.

Here are a few examples of articles where the term is used in that
way:

Unleashing the Idea Virus
http://www.cbi.cgey.com/journal/issue6/unleashIdea.html

Steal These Ideas
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/37/edlet.html

Aldous Huxley
http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,-90,00.html

GrandMaster of the SF Super-Humans
http://www.mmedia.is/vanvogt/grand.htm

Anarchist movements in Serbia
http://www.ainfos.ca/01/feb/ainfos00434.html

Literary Woman
http://www.cairdean.com/m7atf/archive/series/literarywoman.html

Here's a case where it's used more specifically for someone who takes
others' ideas and puts them together in new ways:

Judy and Peter Went to Ottawa
http://www.cprn.com/jmaxwell/files/cjap_e.htm

It is sometimes used to describe someone who comes up with new ideas:

The Society
http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/Record/1997/Society/Padmore.html

I also found a couple instances where the term is used primarily to
describe someone who is creative:

IdeasMerchant.com
http://www.ideasmerchant.com/go/

How To Get Great Ideas
http://www.eyewire.com/magazine/columns/larry/ideas/

Google search strategy used:

"ideas merchant"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22ideas+merchant%22&hl=es&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&start=10&sa=N

"idea merchant"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22idea+merchant%22&hl=es&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&start=10&sa=N

Happy thinking,

mvguy

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Request for Answer Clarification by ideasmerchant-ga on 25 Jun 2002 13:30 PDT

Were you not able to find any definition?

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Clarification of Answer by mvguy-ga on 25 Jun 2002 17:56 PDT

Despite efforts, I was unable to find "ideas merchant" listed in any
dictionary or glossary.  I derived the meaning based on how the phrase
is used, which is the same method that dictionary editors use in
developing definitions of words. There is usually some lag time
(sometimes decades) between the time a word (or phrase) is used and
when it is included in a dictionary, so it shouldn't be surprising
that the dictionary editors have not yet devised an "official"
meaning.

I could put the answer in dictionary form:

ideas merchant (noun): 1) a person who causes others to think about
new possibilities. 2) a person who uses others' ideas and puts them
together in new ways. 3) a person who comes up with new ideas. 4) a
creative person.

I hope this helps.

mvguy

Spot on. Thanks.