The Language of Money: Proverbs and Practices

253 Pages·2018·2.261 MB·

by  Annabelle Mooney

The Language of Money
Through a detailed examination of proverbs related to money, this book
offers a comprehensive critique of the prevailing everyday ideologies and
discourses on money and paves the way towards establishing a new set of
proverbs more conducive to financial equality and human well-being. The
volume explores a variety of contexts to demonstrate the different aspects
of the money system and the linguistic and social structures embedded
within them, including gambling, get rich self-help books and new forms of
currency. Unpacking this complex relationship between people, money and
language in contemporary society, this book is an ideal resource for students
and scholars in language and communication, sociolinguistics, rhetoric,
sociology and media studies.
Annabelle Mooney is Professor of Language and Society at the University
of Roehampton. Other publications include H uman Rights and the Body:
Hidden in Plain Sight, T he Language of Money and Debt: A multidisciplinary
approach and L anguage, Society and Power .
Routledge Research in Language and Communication
The Role of Language in the Climate Change Debate
Edited by Kjersti Fløttum
Multimodality, Poetry and Poetics
Richard Andrews
The Language of Money
Proverbs and Practices
Annabelle Mooney
The Language of Money
Proverbs and Practices
Annabelle Mooney
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Annabelle Mooney to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-21923-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-43593-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Christopher

Contents
Tables viii
Figures ix
Images x
Acknowledgements xi
Sources xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Approach 21
3 You Have to Speculate to Accumulate 41
4 Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees 72
5 Money Makes the World Go Round 103
6 Money Talks 129
7 It’s Better to Be Born Lucky Than Rich 164
8 New Proverbs, a New Contract 194
Appendix 1 Magic Money Tree 214
Appendix 2 Emergent Fields Used for Coding Money
Lives Data in NVivo 215
References 216
Index 236
Tables
4.1 Scale of Local UK Currency Systems 75
4.2 Currency Denomination and Size 84
4.3 Currency Security Features 86
4.4 Currency Paper Feel 87
6.1 Bank of England Museum Word Frequency 136
6.2 Bank of England Museum Keywords 137
Figures
4.1 Stroud Demurrage 87
5.1 HSBC Carrot 104
5.2 HSBC Head 105
5.3 HSBC Accomplishment 105
5.4 HSBC Cat and Dog 106
5.5 HSBC Laptop and Baby 111
5.6 HSBC Mask and Toy 111
5.7 HSBC Responsibility 112
5.8 HSBC Status 112
5.9 HSBC Cow 112
5.10 HSBC Tap 113
5.11 HSBC Tattoo 117