Interesting things I saw this week - 27

Last week I was reading The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, in this book the author exposes the history and motivations behind what is called the leisure class, i.e. “the upper classes […] exempt or excluded from industrial occupations, […] reserved for certain employments to which a degree of honour attaches.”

Through the second chapter, Pecuniary Emulation, the author explains how money and material possessions came to be a symbol of status and admiration in today’s society. The evolution of symbols of status is long and complex, so much that I can’t explain it easily here in a single paragraph, but if you can make the time and are not afraid of long words you should give it at least a skim. And it’s free too.

As a side note, through the book the word pecuniary is used constantly, I hadn’t met with that word before so I searched it in a dictionary, it means “of or relating to money”, the word derives from the latin word for money, pecunia, that word and pecullium meaning private property relate to the latin word for cattle, pecus; that is because in those times cattle were viewed as a trading commodity¹. Also, the spanish word peculio (that I’ve heard once or twice from a saying that goes like “Todo el mundo vela por su peculio”) derives directly from pecullium, and the word peculiar also derives from that word, and if you think about it it makes a lot of sense because peculiar it’s original meaning was “exclusively of one’s own” or “distinctive”¹.

Another book I started reading this week was The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, a book that explains some finance concepts through simple, easily digestible stories. I found out about this book through this post. I think everyone I know can benefit at least a little from reading this, even if most of the takeaways of the book you already know.

[music] Concha Velasco: Calor

I’ve been watching Killing Eve lately and this song appears in the third season, this is such a good song that I can’t do it justice with words. At only two minutes and only two verses it is one of the most summery songs I’ve heard in a while.