Plowing through the news, one is often struck by the proliferation of acronyms, jargon, new names and terms. It can be a baffling experience, so I thought I would provide some explanations, keywords, synonyms, associative notions and interpretations to aid comprehension — even at risk of differing from the prevailing wisdom or PR hype.

"Abenomics": 1. Deflation-busting policies by government aimed at raising prices, and hopefully wages, that might make the economy grow and make everyone happy if everything works out; 2. Boosting the stock market to make investors and speculators rich while devaluing the yen to promote exports at trading partners' expense; 3. Making construction firms happy though vast increases in public-works spending; 4. Vague rumor outside of Tokyo where nobody seems to be benefitting; 5. Three-arrow variation on Three-card Monte; 6. Wishful thinking; 7. High stakes, long odds gamble; 8. Protecting vested interests; 9. Trickledown illusion.

"Abegeddon": 1. What happens if/when Abenomics proves unsustainable, perhaps stoking high inflation and leaving a big mess to clean up; 2. Financial-market implosion; 3. Deep sh-t.