5 ms·
From the title it seems like Mr. or Dr. Libor died. For a paragraph, it is cute to have Libor personified. Doing it until the end of the story feels a bit artif
by erwincoumans 5y ago
From the title it seems like Mr. or Dr. Libor died. For a paragraph, it is cute to have Libor personified. Doing it until the end of the story feels a bit artificial to me.
- svnpenn 5y agoYeah this just screams clickbait. "Let's create a title that makes no sense, followed by an entire article with a strained metaphor".
- mhh__ 5y agoHow is it clickbait? LIBOR is omnipresent in finance and it is being killed. Sterling LIBOR is already dead for example.
- svnpenn 5y agoWell: 1. Its LIBOR, not Libor 2. LIBOR is not a number, its a rate. Thats literally what the "R" stands for 3. LIBOR cant die, as its not a person Its just an awful title because it calls LIBOR a number, which its not, then goes on to treat it as a human, which its also not.
- recursive 5y agoI don't know anything about LIBOR, but I know a few things about rates. Every rate I've ever heard of is a number. How can a rate not be a number?
- danielmarkbruce 5y agoIt's a tongue in cheek article in the NY Times. NY has a lot of finance folks. To a lot of finance folks, libor has been a meaningful number for a long time and a million contracts are based on it. As for "treating it as a human", the financial industry has long used the term "mr market". Ie it's sort of an inside joke. To the target audience it is not an awful title, nor an awful article. As for the semantics of numbers v rates - the rate is specified in numbers. And LIBOR v Libor - the number was used so extensively for so long many people didn't even know what the acronym meant. It's like correcting someone for calling a tissue a kleenex.
- carnitine 5y agoLIBOR is not a rate, it’s a series of rates across different currencies. Rates are numbers though so I’m not sure what distinction you are trying to draw.
- WillEngler 5y agoI enjoyed the framing but to each their own.
- queuebert 5y agoThe NYT has a very high opinion of their obituaries.
- outside1234 5y agoIt is a literary device to make a very boring topic interesting for mainstream readers.
- whatshisface 5y agoA giant London banking scam touching on something that may even have been involved in the reader's mortgage contract, is not exactly a boring topic.
- r00fus 5y agoThere's concern fatigue these days, plus LIBOR scandal was old news even years ago. The fact that LIBOR now dead is not really surprising.
- WJW 5y ago> may even have been involved in the reader's mortgage contract I personally find finance pretty interesting, but mortgage contracts are pretty much the definition of boring for many people.
- NoboruWataya 5y agoAt a high level "there was a huge scam" sounds pretty interesting, but try to explain the detail and most people's eyes will glaze over.
- ambrozk 5y agoI enjoyed it, and I'm happy when writers practice their craft with a bit of humor.
- fourseventy 5y agoIt was confusing to me because I had no context on what/who Libor was.
- dang 5y agoIt did seem odd for NYT, and a bit of an annoying distraction in an important story. On the other hand, I'm surprised they let someone experiment like that.