On Selling Oneself

A humurous anecdote to share from my Psychology of Language course:

We were discussing the metaphor today, and the student presenter put up an example that the professor used all the time;

"Prostituting my dignity for laughs."

When asked what this metaphor of 'prostitution' conveyed, one of the female students was called on and responded;

"Like, selling something special in exchange for something small."

Naturally, there was a slight pause, out of respect, before the class lost it.