tempo: moderato

ok the previous post's rant wasnt actually the main motivation to blog.. this is (my recent craze with news).

there are quite a few good articles from the sunday times today. the political cartoons on page 27 are pretty good cos i actually had a chuckle or two. this is my personal favourite, by Luojie from the China Daily: (more of the cartoonist work can be viewed at http://www.cartoons.nytimages.com/portal/*wieck_search)

haha the depiction of the characters are pretty cute, albeit its a lil sick to put your hands in another person's pockets.
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another article that i personally like (given that i love languages and linguistics) on page 30. its abt some of the financial words and their roots and origins. thanks to the review editor Janadas Devan. all credits to him. here goes:

Money
from the goddess of warning, Juno Moneta. offerings in the form of coins are then called moneta. Latin borrowed it to form moneo (warning). then to Old French moneie. then to english. so money = warning. how apt.

Bank
from Old Italian banca (bench). old bankers did their business on benches.

Bankrupt
from Italian banca rotta (broken bench). thats gonna hurt.

Securities
from Latin securus (free from care). if only thats the case.

Bond
from Old English band (a fastening belt)

Stocks
from Germanic stocc (tree trunk). just as the article wrote: " one would be sorely deluded if on concluded from this that company stocks, like tree trunks, always go up".

Broker
from Old French brokiere. they are the people who open casks of wine. English ppl borrowed it and its applied to pimps and panders and matchmakers.

Mortgage
from French. Mort (death) gage (pledge). how apt.

Panic
from the Greek god of flocks and herds, Pan. his physical appearance scares ppl, hence the link. therefore, the Greek panikos, Latin panicus, French panique, and then english panic.

languages are so beautiful. if only GP is half as beautiful =\

working hard towards 'A' lvls!