The Laboratorium

I love the phrase “rogue trader.” It has so many inappropriate associations:

“Yes, he lost $7 billion of our money, but he’s such a lovable rogue, who can blame him?”
“Ah, there’s your mistake! Only hire paladins to work the trading desk. Lawful good, and nothing but. That’s the way to go.”
“No, we have no idea how he managed to start trading on our account. He’s a rogue; he probably managed to sneak in or something.”

January 27, 2008 at 5:50 AM

A derivatives trader trades in derivatives; therefore, clearly, a rogue trader must be someone who trades in rogues. “Roll up! Roll up! Three rogues for the price of Two!”

Richard

January 28, 2008 at 11:39 PM

matt

Love the D&D reference. Paladins can only have the lawful good alignment… haven’t thought about that in years!

January 29, 2008 at 10:12 AM

Frank

Very much like the “bad apple” metaphor. “Oh, that group’s not bad, just has some bad apples!”

January 29, 2008 at 10:28 AM

James Grimmelmann

It’s even funnier when applied to apples. “These apples are fine; there are just some bad apples in there.”