The Hindu Business Line : Men shall sometimes deal unadvisedly

Word of the day is `deal'. The nuclear deal with the US is top news, and the Sensex is said to have reacted happily by zooming past 10,700. Deal is hot elsewhere too, as in the case of the Dubai Ports deal, and the sponsorship deal between London's Arsenal Football Club and the Israeli government.

Deal appears after `deaf mute' in Concise Oxford English Dictionary, and means `distribute cards to players for a game or round'.

The word means `to give as one's portion,' in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Deal also means administer or deliver, as in `dealt him a blow'; and sell, as in `deals marijuana'. However, `deal' means "a measured quantity, as of marijuana," in the Book of Slang on www.macquariedictionary. com.au.

Deal is from Old English dæl `part, share, quantity,' states www.etymonline.com. Verbal derivative dælan means `to divide'.

Original slang

One learns that the meaning `to distribute cards before a game' is from 1529, and the business sense is from 1837, originally slang. "To deal with `handle' is attested from 1469. Dealership is from 1916." Deal also means `plank or board of pine'.

In the world of acronyms (www.acronymfinder.com) , DEAL stands for `Drop Everything And Listen', `Decision Evaluation Logic', and `Department of English and Applied Linguistics'.

In the world of investment, though, deal means "a proposal for financing a business creation or expansion," as www.investorwords.com defines.

More generally, deal means "any contract or arrangement."

To close, cut or strike a deal is to negotiate an agreement. "US and India strike nuclear deal," reports Aljazeera.net. "Iran and Russia strike nuclear deal," notes Telegraph.co.uk. "It's a deal," is an informal usage to express assent to what has been agreed. `Done deal' is a decision that's final. `A good deal of' is much, in many words. "A great deal of discoveries," is from All's Well That Ends Well. See "great deal misprizing," in Troilus and Cressida; and find "a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion," in Cymbeline. A `bad deal' is no good.

As, for example, `Building sewer rule a bad deal,' as Birmingham News reports, and `Bad Deal For Students Abroad,' that Namibian speaks of. "Bad is the world; and all will come to nought, when such bad dealings must be seen in thought," says Scrivener in King Richard III.

Dealer, in simple, is one who buys and sells goods. OneLook lists more than 60 dealers, including those of arms, slave, used car, scrap and stamp.

On February 28, AutoNation Inc., the largest car dealer in the US, announced that it would restate its results for 2003 and 2004 "to make a change to its classification of cash flows," as www.businessweek.com reported.

Forex dealer buys and sells foreign currency, but wheeler-dealer is "a shrewd or unscrupulous person who knows how to circumvent difficulties," as www.onelook.com defines.

Dangerously, "a person who says one thing and does another" is a double-dealer.

`Paper dealer' is one "who buys commercial paper and resells it at a lower interest rate, realising a profit."

A TERM BUSINESS LIKE

A securities firm, as a dealer "acts as a principal and stands ready to buy and sell for its own account." In contrast, a broker executes orders on behalf of his client.

A related word that InvestorWords shows is `bought deal', which is "an offering in which the underwriter (or syndicate) buys all the shares and resells them."

Global Investor Glossary on http://glossary.global-investor.com lists 84 results for `deal'. These include `after hours deals' (dealings made on a stock exchange after its official closure time); and `dealing cost' (cost of trading in an asset or security).

Instances of `insider dealing' (a.k.a. insider trading) occasionally do come out. For example, UK's watchdog, the Financial Services Authority has handed down hefty fines to Europe's largest hedge fund manager and its former star trader for alleged insider dealing, informs www.tmcnet.com in a despatch `1 hour ago'.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary speaks of many a deal, such as package deal (a set of arrangements that must be accepted together and not separately); and square deal (a fair agreement).

Deals can make hearts grow fonder, but sweetheart deal is "an agreement that you make in which you get something that is to your advantage, especially by agreeing to give up something else".

For this, Investopedia gives the following example: "A merger may be a sweetheart deal for the management executives of the target because they get healthy buyout packages, but it may not be in the best interest of shareholders."

Raw deal is "an arrangement, situation, or treatment that is unfair," as Encarta explains.

`Nudists protest raw deal,' reads a February 27 headline on Sunshine Coast Daily, Australia; and biotech industry is miffed at raw deal in the Union Budget, informs NewKerala.com.

LOT OF SARCASM

`Big deal!' is "a sarcastic exclamation for not being very impressed," educates A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquialisms of the UK (www.peevish.co.uk). As good or bad as `no big deal'. For example, a March 1 story on www.fijitimes.com reads, `Fall in oil price no big deal'. And Hagerstown Morning Herald had a report headline, `Losing's no big deal in Olympics'.

To deal with is to talk to someone. "Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him," says Demetrius in Titus Andronicus. A sign of assertion, that is. More so is, "Do not you meddle; let me deal in this," from Much Ado About Nothing.

Let me wrap, however, on a note of caution. Not from Twelfth Night, where Olivia wonders, "O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of his lip!" but from King Richard III: "Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, which after hours give leisure to repent."

Hope the latest nuke deal isn't one such.

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

D. Murali

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