Fun with Words

Gosh, Bloomberg announcers must read this blog, too. I just heard the Brit announcer in the 4AM hour say "panicmongers". ;-)

European market are up bigtime, about 3% in early trading. India is up 5%. Hong Kong +6%. Japan closed up 2%.

Yesterday I took some profits on some panic bottom buys I did. I posted them in the comments: sold 1/2 BAC, 1/3 JPM, 1/3 GE. I had really huge postions in those stocks - too much to hold long term. The panic bottom adds helped lower my average price on the LT positions and I had solid profits on those three stocks. Now I have amounts I can hold a year easily.

This is an example of how having reserves lets one make buys when there is blood in the Street. Those panic bottom buys made up for a dumb, "buck fever" add I made last fall. I did use my reserves plus more from part of the gold & silver sales shifted from the Krypto Fund to really load up. Thankfully, Battleship Ben did my bidding [ hehe ;-) ] and kept shelling the bears who are now waving the white flag. Let's see if a trend develops and a strong bullish pattern develops. For now, I'm holding and will take profits on remaining huge positions at appropriate prices. I'm now about 150% long, down from 200% longs at the lows.

I'll be looking for a few good, long term buys if a bull market begins. I like to stay 150% long in bull market, cutting to 100% on sharper moves up, and buying dips to 200% long on significant, beefer-induced dips.

This market has re-taught some lessons on dealing with hard downturns: don't add to a position unless the price is at least 10% below a prior buy, as that amount is needed to make a significant reduction in one's average price of holdings. And don't be too fast to add, as the downturn can go on longer and further that one might expect on rational reasoning as a "panic" is not rational. And don't accelerate time diversification adds - let the time run out.

I hear a Merrill Lynch analyst downgraded BAC. Dumb. The big banks will gain more business in the next upturn, while investment banks are going to be regulated heavily and see their business contract. The big banks are already regulated and know how to deal with this. The investment banks do not.

That's enough of the market. Let's move on to the fun with words.

Words of the Day

"Nomo-" is a combining form meaning custom, law and is used in the formation of compound words related to "law" (based on the Greek root) [$100]
Nomology [noun] means the science of law or laws.
Nomothetic [adjective] means 1. giving or establishing laws, legislative; 2. founded upon or derived from law; 3. (Psychol.) pertaining to or involving the study or formulation of general or universal laws.
Nomism [noun] means religious conduct based on laws.
Now the fun. let's make a new word, "nomite" to mean "lawyer". [It could also be "nomothete"].
Sentences: Those dirty nomites robbed my grandmother of her estate. :-)
Nomothetes are such sharks, they'd sue their own grandmother. In urban-speak asides in court: Those MF nomites are blood suckering bastards. ;-)

See ... words can be fun ! Next ...

"Conurbation" - noun [$10]
Conurbation means an extended urban area, esp. one consisting of several towns and merging suburbs.
Sentence: American conurbations might shrink and break up as high gasoline prices induce families to move to city centers to cut driving times.

Here's the fun. In urban dialects or in locker rooms, "conurbation" might be used as a polite synonym for circle jerks ;-) Or maybe it could be a secret code word meaning same in offices when mangement has internal conferences where all "share" ideas. Lolol Dilbert could use that word in a comic strip safely. :-))) "Sigh ... another management conurbation ... "

I'm just having fun with words. Mrs. B thought I was nuts when cackling about these two word ideas yesterday evening.