Monthly Archive for October, 2004

memo from the sports lingo department

I am having a crisis of faith.  What if bizarre financial lingo ceases to amuse me? What happens if I run out of marvels like decisioning, amortization and collateralize? Have I already plumbed the lexicon of international finance to its very depths?

Rest assured, gentle reader, for I have found a new source of wacky verbiage sure to keep all of us perplexed if not entertained for days to come: cricket! For example, the economy rate, which sounds like it might not have anything to do with sports a-tall, is actually similar to baseball’s earned run average.  It means the average score of runs scored off a bowler per over that he bowls.  All clear now? Good.  Prepare yourself for the forthcoming entry on sticky wickets, spectacles and yorkers.

In related news please see the ever-amusing Hutton puzzling over baseball-as-metaphor-for-US-politics in the comments to this post.