Stigler’s Law states that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer, and the same pattern shows up in other eponyms. Venn diagrams were popularized by John Venn in the 1880s, but Leonard Euler had introduced similar diagrams...
credit n.— «Healthy banks took the money. Who wouldn’t accept what an addled rich uncle was giving away. But banks are in the business of lending. And thus what they really want are what are known in the trade as “good credits”—credit-worthy...
Martha and Grant discuss some other Word of the Year candidates, including hockey mom and hypermiling. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hypermiling” Hockey mom will probably be another big word of the year choice for a lot of...
take a haircut v. phr.— «The intent of such sessions is to identify what creditors will settle for. “But there was no goal seeking,…other than that everyone wanted 100 cents on the dollar. I think that nobody wanted to accept their fate, which was...
max up v. phr.— «He said he was “maxed up” on all his credit cards. There was no shame in his voice. In fact there was a certain pride. He seemed to think it was pretty cool to be in debt; “live life to the max” being the slogan of his generation...