57Fotos: mimicry, iStockphotos/iStock.com; Gert Krautbauer
LANGUAGE 2/2020 Business Spotlightcivil war [)sIv&l (wO:]
, Bürgerkrieg
corporate accounting
[)kO:pErEt E(kaUntIN]
, Unternehmens-
rechnung(swesen)
debt: be in ~ [det]
, verschuldet sein
expenditure
[Ik(spendItSE]
, Ausgaben
ink [INk]
, Tinte
inverted commas
[In)v§:tId (kQmEz] UK
, Anführungszeichenissue [(ISu:]
, hier: Ausgabe
leak sth. [li:k]
, etw. auslaufen lassen
overdrawn: be ~
[)EUvE(drO:n] , ein über-
zogenes Konto haben
over the counter (OTC)
[)EUvE DE (kaUntE]
, im Freiverkehr,
nicht börsengehandelt
purple patch
[(p§:p&l )pÄtS]
, Glückssträhne
revenues [(revEnju:z]
, Einnahmenrun [rVn]
, hier: Phase, Zyklus
spill sth. [spIl]
, etw. vergießen
tax avoidance
[(tÄks E)vOIdEns]
, Steuervermeidung
tax evasion
[(tÄks i)veIZ&n]
, Steuerhinterziehung
tax liabilities
[(tÄks laIE)bIlEtiz]
, Steuerschulden
tide [taId]
, FlutLANGUAGE
TALKING FINANCEThe colour of money
Das Thema „Finanzen“ ist keineswegs eine farblose Angelegenheit.
Es kann in vielen Farben schillern, wie IAN MCMASTER mit
einigen interessanten Beispielen belegt.
ADVANCED AUDIOF
inance is not always a black-and-
white subject. Indeed, it’s more
often a black or red matter. If your
bank account is “in the black”, then
it has a positive balance, which
means you are not overdrawn.
And if a person or business is in the
black, they are not in debt.
The opposite is to be “in the red”. We
also use the expression “red ink” to de-
scribe a situation in which losses are be-
ing made, so a company could be said to
be “bleeding/leaking/spilling red ink”. We
also talk of a “sea/tide/flow of red ink” if
the losses are great or if many companies
are losing money at the same time or if
many share prices are falling.
If you have a “black hole” in your fi-
nances, on the other hand, then you
have big losses. And to be “in the pink (of
health)” means to be “very healthy” and is
used metaphorically to refer to finances.
Also, if you are having a “purple patch”,
financially or otherwise, then things are
going very well for you and you are enjoy-
ing a successful run.
To trade shares “in the pink” means to
trade them “in an unregulated secondary
or ‘over-the-counter’ (OTC) secondary
market”. Meanwhile, “blue-chip” com-
panies are ones that are regarded as safe,
stable and profitable, and whose perfor-
mance is relatively independent of the
economic cycle. The term comes from
poker, in which the blue chip is the one
with the highest value.IAN MCMASTER
is editor-in-chief
of Business
Spotlight.Contact:
i.mcmaster@
spotlight-verlag.deGoing back to black, the colour plays a key role in government
finances in Germany, where there is an obsession with the con-
cept of the schwarze Null. This describes a situation in which the
government has a balanced budget, which means its tax rev-
enues are at least as high as its expenditure. In other words, it
doesn’t need to borrow any new money. The term “black zero”
is not normally used in English except in financial reporting on
Germany, where it is typically placed in inverted commas.
Finance also often has grey areas, particularly in relation to tax
liabilities and corporate accounting. The difference between tax
avoidance, which is legal, and tax evasion, which is illegal, can be
very difficult to define at times.
One colour we haven’t mentioned yet is green. The “green-
back” is a slang term for the world’s leading currency, the US
dollar. The name comes from the colour of the back of the US
banknotes printed in the middle of the 19th century to finance
the country’s civil war. In the next issue, we’ll be looking more
closely at green investments and even green central banking.
Finally, if you ask to “see the colour of someone’s money”, you
are asking them to prove that they really do have the money to
pay for something.AUDIO
You can hear Ian
McMaster talking
about the colour of
money and other
news topics on
Business Spotlight
Audio. To order, go
to http://www.aboshop.
spotlight-verlag.de