Greenspan mastered language as Fed Chairman during his tenure which became known as “Greenspanspeak” where we hung on certain words in a sentence.
Current Fed Chairman Bernanke had a little diificulty initially but was able to create Bernankespeak, a flavor of Greenspanspeak.
Why the initial stumble? Afterall he is known for his academic record:
- Won South Carolina’s State Spelling Bee at 11 years old
- 1590 out of 1600 on SAT exam (highest in state)
- Class Valadictorian
Carol Baum’s Bernanke’s Hippie Dictionary [Bloomberg] article reports that Bernanke created it as a high school junior. Perhaps this can give us some insight how he relates to the housing market as well:
Here are the highlights:
- Dig — to like, to enjoy, as “The hippie undertaker digs his work.”
- Down trip — a drag
- Drag — a down trip
- Hang-up — a neurosis or fetish
- Lie-In — a form of peaceful protest that often fails when demonstrators go to sleep
- Square — someone who stays home New Year’s Eve to hear Guy Lombardo play “Auld Lang Syne”
- Straight — as in “stiff” (see “dig”)
- Swing — what someone does who thinks Guy Lombardo is a football coach (see square)
- Trip — a rocket flight without the rocket
Far out, like, I hope that like, this clears things up, man…dig?
Tags: Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke
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