Saturday, 28 January 2017
08:49 AM
Friday words! Our last installment for an eventful January 2017.
 The new-to-me term this week is economic moat. This refers to a competitive advantage that is not easy for others to overcome. A textbook example of an economic moat is a patent your company owns—not only do you have a competitive advantage, but your competitors cannot use your process or widget. But it can also be something like a brand with a high recognition factor—for example, it doesn’t matter how delicious your soft drink is if you're trying to compete with Coca-Cola.
The term is attributed to the investor Warren Buffet. The financial press loves this quote, omg: "In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats." But finding the actual source is surprisingly difficult. The best I could do was this, from the 1986 Chairman's Letter, where Buffett says the following:The difference between GEICO’s costs and those of its competitors is a kind of moat that protects a valuable and much-sought-after business castle. As an aside, I'll note that Buffett is justly famous for the approachability of his writing about financial matters, and the Letters are surprisingly good reading.
So. Got a little off track there, sorry. On to etymology. This week's word came up in a discussion online about which term is preferred, couch or sofa. During the discussion, someone mentioned that sofa was a borrowing from Arabic. And sure enough! The origin is listed as the Arabic word soffah.
The first cites in English (1625) use the word sofa to refer to a raised platform that's got carpets and cushions on it.
 The original sofa?
As for the question of couch versus sofa, people agreed that couch was the more common term. After all, you never hear about someone who's a sofa-potato.
Like this? Read all the Friday words.
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Friday words, language
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