'Grexit' Is the Talk of the Euro Zone, as Crisis Spawns a New Lexicon

Wall Street Journal
May 21, 2012

The euro crisis is bad enough, but its rapidly growing lexicon is ugly, too. Some gruesome word-mashes have emerged to describe the events in Greece and the rest of the region.

Take "grexit"—a term Citigroup coined in February as shorthand for Greek euro exit. Initially met with groans, it is now in wide use among analysts and investors.

It doesn't stop there. In research issued Monday, Deutsche Bank came up with the idea that Greece could use a parallel currency while formally remaining in the monetary union, to avoid a catastrophic abrupt switch. The working name for this parallel currency: the "geuro."

And just how is that pronounced? "Very good question," said its creator Thomas Mayer, Deutsche Bank senior adviser. "I'd say 'gh-euro.'"

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