smoothing
n.— «Another employer victory was this: Congress made it clear that companies can meet the funding target by measuring assets over the past 24 months. This technique, known as “smoothing,” reduces the impact of this year’s big stock losses on plans” funded status. “Smoothing on a long-term basis is critical to predictability,” says Dudley. “Unpredictability is what causes plan sponsors to freeze their plans, so smoothing will help everybody over the long haul.”» —“Companies Demand More Pension Relief” by Ashlea Ebeling Forbes Dec. 12, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...
How do actors bring Shakespeare’s lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique is called billboarding. And: Anyone for an...