View all newsletters
Have the short, sharp Spear's newsletter delivered to your inbox each week
  1. Luxury
  2. Art & Culture
August 17, 2012

An HNW ABC: QRST

By Spear's

The sixth instalment of our lexicographical endeavour, a dictionary for the super-wealthy
    
    

Qatar: Everything in Britain is now owned by the Qatari royal family. Everything. You thought it was just Harrods, the Olympic village, the Shard, No 1

Hyde Park and Sainsbury’s. No, it’s everything: the roads you walk on, the house you live in, the sunlight you occasionally see. After the financial crisis of 2008, the UK government thought the best way out of our debts was an investment by a sovereign wealth fund, and so it sold Britain.

Queen, The: Long to reign over us, etc.

Recession: The perpetual state of the British economy. Let’s all just go somewhere sunny.

Rich List: Being on a rich list merely means you’re not rich enough to hire people to keep you off a rich list. The world’s truly wealthy (corrupt presidents, drug barons) would never appear on one of these.

Richistan: Although Spear’s regularly receives calls asking for details of the London embassy of Richistan, we cannot give those out.

Ritz: If you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to, why don’t you go where fashion sits?

Content from our partners
Spies and secret ops: How espionage has inspired London’s most exciting hotel
High-flyers: TAG Aviation explains that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey
Finding a purpose for family wealth during uncertainty 

Royalty: See Queen, The; Charles, Prince; York, Duke of; do not see: Middleton, Carole.

Sardinia: Where the sardines live.

Savoy, The: A formerly glamorous hotel on the Strand.

Schillings: If you receive a letter from Schillings, pick it up with coal tongs and run it under cold water until it stops smoking.

Silicone: You know it when you feel it.

Social Investing: A Good Thing, where investors put money into projects which have both a financial and a social return. Everyone wins!

Social Network: Originally this meant those fit to invite round for tea and those who couldn’t be trusted with the silver. Now it means keeping in electronic contact with friends you don’t like, acquaintances you don’t know and one-night stands you don’t remember.

Socialites: These are people of indeterminate age, origin and gender who are at every social gathering regardless of whether they were invited or not. They frequently make surgical adjustments to their faces to avoid being recognised as gatecrashers.

Suit: This comes in two varieties: Bespoke and Law. The former is when your tailor runs his hands up your inside leg; the latter is when you run your hands up your tailor’s inside leg.

Taittinger: Hoorah!

Tax: Boo!

Terroir: This describes the particular aspects of a place which affect the quality of its produce — eg grapes grown in Chernobyl can be said to have a terroir with a distinct green glow. See also: Reign of Terroir: Gordon Brown’s prime ministerial years.

Thoroughbred: Whether a horse or a husband, a thoroughbred must be checked for teeth, feet and fetlocks. The last thing you want is to stable a thoroughbred husband only to discover that he’s no good at fences and can’t eat out of his nosebag daintily.

Toff: An affectionate term for one of the right sort. Sample sentence: ‘It’s toff if you ain’t got it’ (Shakespeare, Prince Harry)

Treasury: This is where the money used to be kept.
  
  
Read more HNW ABCs

Select and enter your email address The short, sharp email newsletter from Spear’s
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network