Most organisations segment their customers in some way, so they can target products or communications at each group. They give names to the segments like 'empty nesters', 'cash-strapped families', 'young trendsetters' and so on. Some of these verge on the pejorative - like the one I've just seen that prompted this post, that I won't quote because I'm working with the organisation concerned at the moment. Sometimes there are informal usages within organisations - at one mobile phone company I worked with, anonymous pay-as-you-go customers who did not register their accounts were known as 'crims' or 'dealers'.
Oddly enough, I'd start writing this post when I thought I'd see what Paul Luna had put up on his
Luna's café blog recently - he showed this legend from one of Charles Booth's London maps - part of his
Life and labour of the people of London survey(1886–1903).
