Credit Crunch is the Buzz Word of 2008
Posted on 23 December, 2008 at 21:12 by Peter Kelly
2008 was undoubtedly the year of financial doom and gloom, so the fact that ‘credit crunch’ has been named the Word of the year by Countdown’s Susie Dent is no surprise to anyone.
Dent comments: “Specialized vocabulary is now firmly on the British public’s radar. As fears of a recession escalate, it may be productivity of the linguistic kind that is the safest bet. ‘Credit crunch’ is an example of an established term – it was already in currency back in the 1960s – being resurrected as circumstances change”.
There has also been further entries which Dent sees as important words of 2008 when it comes to describing the UK financial crisis, these include:
- Ninja Loan – A loan given to someone who has ‘No Income, No Job, No Assets’.
- Jingle Mail – Sending house keys to the mortgage company because of repossession.
- IPOD – An acronym for ‘insecure, pressured, overtaxed, and debt-ridden’.
- Homedebtor – A homeowner whose mortgage is so large that they are unlikely to ever pay it off.
- Going Underwater – Falling into negative equity.