Setting terms of reference

“Skin in the game”; “What’s the playbook like?”; “The donkey in the room”; “We need the moolah”.

What were the ‘smartest’ guys in Ireland talking about? They were speaking a secret language (an argot) used by various groups, including the underworld, to prevent others understanding their conversation.

And it worked, because neither the regulator, nor the Department of Finance, nor the Government understood. Victor Hugo described argot, in his novel, Les Misérables, as the language of the dark. “What is argot; properly speaking? Argot is the language of misery.”

Greg Butler

Grange Heights

Cork