Language of the City and Wall Street deciphered

US pundit Jason Zweig’s lexicon A Devil’s Dictionary offers a whimsical yet withering take on finance language, with ‘rumour’ defined as ‘fact’ and ‘outlook’ as ‘guess’

The jargon bandied about by pinstriped City professionals can be so impenetrable that it sounds like a foreign language spoken only by rich young men. Thankfully, veteran US financial commentator Jason Zweig has compiled a lexicon to assist the lowly layman in understanding those who have been described as “masters of the universe”.

But the Wall Street Journal columnist’s book, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary, is less of a guide for dummies than a wryly satirical critique of finance culture. “Rumour” is defined as “the Wall Street equivalent of a fact”, while “irrational” is “a word you use to describe any investor other than yourself”.

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