Oct

26

What are the popular phrases used in our business. Things like "risk on" and "challenging" and "restructuring". It always amazes me how book value of a company can decrease while its operating earnings go up.

Gary Rogan writes: 

"Risk-adjusted returns" and "risk tolerance", which seem highly presumptive.

Vince Fulco writes: 

"A rising tide lifts all boats"

"the fed/bernanke put will protect you"

"Fools dance but the greater fool is the one on the sidelines watching them dance…"

"Esp. If they are earning ZIRP"

Pitt T. Maner III writes:

There are two phrases that seem to be in more frequent use lately:

1. "jumping the shark" which has an interesting origin from the "Happy Days" TV show in 1977:

'In its initial usage, it referred to the point in a television program's history when the program had outlived its freshness and viewers had begun to feel that the show's writers were out of new ideas, often after great effort was made to revive interest in the show by the writers, producers, or network.


The usage of "jump the shark" has subsequently broadened beyond television, indicating the moment in its evolution when a brand, design, or creative effort moves beyond the essential qualities that initially defined its success, beyond relevance or recovery.'

and

2. "thrown under the bus" which evidently was first used by sportswriters around the 1990's.

"It's unclear where the phrase came from, but there's no doubting it's having a heyday. There are bus-throw references in the late '90s, mostly in professional sports. (Players who don't get their contracts renewed are often said to get you know what under you know where.) The phrase turns up in politics in 1999, according to a database search, with its maiden voyage courtesy of a press secretary for a candidate for mayor of Philadelphia."

Perhaps in some ways the revived usage of these (and many other) turns of phrase are indicators of overall public sentiment.

Ed writes in:

fiscal cliff, confusing alpha with beta, risk management, proprietary formula, diversify, flight to quality, short japan, market bubble, gold bug, tin foil hat theory, perma-bear, bullish, bearish, front run the fed, market master, trading guru, market cycle, ETF portfolio, bond maven, high frequency trading, flash crash, smart money, front run, market anomaly, wave theory, cash is king, cash is trash, quantitative easing, QE, money printing, wealth effect, hard money, we are bankrupt, offshoring, the 1%, responsible for 5% of NYSE/CME/CBOE volume, carried interest, deep value, momentum trade


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8 Comments so far

  1. TAOST on October 26, 2012 6:22 pm

    “PPT to the rescue…”

    PPT = Plunge Protection Team

    Apparently a nefarious, top-secret government agency responsible for stepping in to buy indiscriminately whenever the U.S. equity markets are plunging.

    Their office is thought to be on a swank street in Narnia.

  2. Andre Wallin on October 26, 2012 10:37 pm

    “cut loss”

    What’s your strategy for cutting a loss? Are you sure rebate traders aren’t perpetually killing you?

  3. Ed on October 27, 2012 10:07 pm

    fiscal cliff, alpha, beta, risk management, proprietary formula, diversify, flight to quality, short japan, market bubble, gold bug, tin foil hat theory, perma-bear, bullish, bearish, front run the fed, market master, trading guru, market cycle, ETF portfolio, bond maven, high frequency trading, flash crash, smart money, front run, market anomaly, wave theory, cash is king, cash is trash, quantitative easing, QE, money printing, wealth effect, hard money, we are bankrupt, offshoring, the 1%, responsible for 5% of NYSE/CME/CBOE volume, carried interest, deep value, momentum trade

  4. steve on October 28, 2012 8:10 am

    how about “never try to catch a falling knife”

    Let’s put a little lipstick on this pig.
    The chances of that happening are slim and none and slim just left town.
    This is less than a robust economy.
    If you liked it at 40 you gotta love it at x
    Things are different this time
    What about this jobless recovery,
    What is your take

    My all time favorites
    If I buy that stock,bond,commodity I will give it the kiss of death.
    If you are so smart why aren’t you rich.
    If you sit down to a game of poker and you can’t figure out who the chump is after 20 minutes chances are it is you.

  5. douglas roberts dimick on October 28, 2012 12:07 pm

    No matter where you go, there you are…

    Mad Max

  6. astro the family dog on October 28, 2012 5:54 pm

    “think good thougths and good things will happen”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI8UPHMzZm8

  7. Joseph Brockman on October 29, 2012 11:20 am

    I was an analyst for a Big Three auto company in the mid-to-late 80’s.
    “Thrown under the bus” was common in corporate lingo, often a
    mid to lower level executive pinned with a bad decision or program.

  8. anonymous on October 29, 2012 6:47 pm

    “Sell a CAB, drive a cab” - in reference to selling the minimum option tick value

    “Sell the 80s, buy a Mercedes” - in reference to selling the 80 strike price on IBM back in the 1980’s

    “The Texas Spread” or “The Texas Hedge” - Buy Futures and Buy Calls

    “Teenies” - the minimum option value on a stock option before decimals. Typically 1/16th.

    “Airplane Spread” - sell an over leveraged amount of teenies on the day of an options expiration, simultaneously buying an airplane ticket leaving the country and waiting at the airport for expiration to occur (used jokingly, never actually happened to the best of my knowledge)

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