Euro Crisis Has New Buzzword: 'Grexit'

That's slang for 'Greek Exit'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2012 9:47 AM CDT
Euro Crisis Has New Buzzword: 'Grexit'
A man passes a plaque of a Greek one-drachma coin, which was replaced by the euro in 2002, in central Athens, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Want to strike fear into the hearts of European bankers? Throw around the term "grexit." It's slang invented by Citigroup referring to Greece's euro exit, and it's part of a growing lexicon of weird terms surrounding the eurozone crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. Other key terms to know:

  • Guero—A Deutsche Bank invention, referring to a parallel currency Greece could create while remaining nominally part of the eurozone. How is it pronounced? "Very good question," its creator says. "I'd say 'gh-euro.'"
  • Neuro/sudo—terms, coined by ex-Barclays CEO Martin Taylor, referring to hypothetical currencies that could be created by splitting the euro into a stronger northern currency (neuro) and weaker southern one (sudo).
  • Drachmail—the idea that Greece is using the threat of returning to the drachma to blackmail Europe.
  • Eurogeddon—self explanatory.
(More Grexit stories.)

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