Perhaps more philosophical than philological, but I'd like to know what you folks think "money" means. A means to an end? The end in and of itself? A means of exchange? A means to make more of it? It seems we all have different views of it. For instance, a Wall Street type will see it very differently from me, since he's a money manipulator, whereas I'm a lowly wage slave.

What do the Wall Street types know that we grunts do not know?

Asa, we really have to do something about your self image! Repeat after me: I am not, never have been, and never will be lowly. Got that?!

Now, to answer your great question (it might be a good poll actually), I have never been a money oriented person. I see money as a means of exchange. I have never related money to success. There is too much luck related to money to do that, not only in terms of your own life, but also what family you're born into. I know people, for example, whose whole lives have been spent "investing" their family money. That's their job. It would be nice to be that secure, but I'd need to do something more than that.

He might be lowly- I understand he is of modest stature!
Money- a means to an end. I earn it to pay for some things I don't like- bills and even more bills- and also for things I like, my multitude of hobbies for one thing and fine ale!
Given the option- having lots of money- I'd pack in work tomorrow and just concentrate on the latter. After all, we spend probably at least a third of our life at work and a third asleep, I'd like a little more of the conscious bit!

quote:

I understand he is of modest stature!

Well, being 5'2" myself, I may not be objective when it comes to who's tall and who's not...but Asa seems tall to me.

I agree that it's nice to have money, and surely you need an adequate amount of money in order to traverse through life. However, I agree with Asa that some people spend their whole lives accumulating it and linking money to success. I have seen families, for example, where the rich elders are respected, only because they are rich. The other elders in the family, who have perhaps raised wonderful families and who have done lots for society, but who don't have much money, are considered the "ne'er-do-wells" of families. That's how important money is to some people and in some cultures. That's what I meant when I said money, to me, is a means of exchange.

FYI: I think Asa is 5'10" tall, a head taller than petite moi!

I'm not as careful with money as those who have lots of it. I assume that's how they accumulate it - by being stingy with it and making a career out of investing it. That's fine with me as long as they give plenty of it away to worthy causes. If they have nothing better to do with it than build 20,000-square-foot mansions (for example), I have no admiration for them.

But what if they give away lots of it AND build a private Disneyland of their own?

Not being financially literate leaves me not knowing a language as surely as not knowing mathematics or music. What's the Rosetta Stone for that language?

Wordcrafter quotes the Wall Street Journal on occasion in the Word For The Day. Perhaps he knows of what I speak and might comment?

Michael Jackson HAS paid out lots of money and built his own private Disneyland- eek! I don't think we'll go any further here....
Speaking as someone who has been skint for most of my adult life, I would rather have liked a job with better loot prospects, but I think I'm stuck with what I've got for the moment. But it would be nice to do a lot more and not worry about the costs. I haven't been back to the States for 5 years or so now, it would be nice to re-visit old friends there.

I found this news about Bill Gates very interesting.

I also like what he says about leaving money to his kids in this article.

quote:

Planning on leaving his children $10 million each, "Gates has always said that, like Carnegie, he will give away most of his fortune before he dies. He plans to make sure his children are well taken care of but doesn’t want to leave them the burden of tremendous wealth."

What a fascinating couple they are.

Money is from the Latin moneta 'mint'. Moneta was an epithet of Juno, possibly from moneo 'to remind; advise; teach'. The Roman mint was next to the temple of Juno Moneta (or 'Juno who warns'). She was the patroness of Roman finance.

I

quote:

Planning on leaving his children $10 million each, "Gates has always said that, like Carnegie, he will give away most of his fortune before he dies. He plans to make sure his children are well taken care of but doesn’t want to leave them the burden of tremendous wealth."

What a fascinating couple they are.[/QUOTE]

I do admire them, but is not $10 million tremendous wealth? It is where I come from!

Of all the machines in the Mint, the penny-stamping machine is the only one that makes cents.

quote:

I haven't been back to the States for 5 years or so now, it would be nice to re-visit old friends there.

And how about some new ones?

Have you ever realized that the more money people have, the more they want? When does that stop, do you think? Or does it?

quote:

Of all the machines in the Mint, the penny-stamping machine is the only one that makes cents.

Groan. I thought that bad puns were a UK phenomenon.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:

quote:

I haven't been back to the States for 5 years or so now, it would be nice to re-visit old friends there.

And how about some new ones?

How can you re-visit new friends?

Have you ever had one of those days where you are always wrong? Well...mine was today!

Yes, Arnie, you are correct. You cannot re-visit new friends. But he could visit new friends...and that's what I meant.

If I really want to be right and try to get technical, I suppose he could re-visit new friends. See...he has gotten to know them on the Internet. But he has never met them in person. So they are old friends in a way, but also new friends in person. So he is indeed re-visiting new friends!

Yes. Right. I think.