Absurdity, Allegory and China

Zud may be the next new word finding its way into the English vocabulary. Schott’s Vocabulary in the NYT linked to a Gordon Fairclough piece in the WSJ, The Global Downturn Lands With a Zud on Mongolia’s Nomads

Falling demand for cashmere among recession-hit shoppers in the West is cutting into earnings among nomadic herders in Mongolia, whose goats produce the soft fiber used in high-end sweaters, scarves and coats. The result: herder loan defaults.

Mongolians are calling the current situation a financial zud, invoking a local term for unusually harsh winters that devastate herds. After Mr. Sodnomdarjaa couldn’t pay back a $2,700 loan, he says bank officials pressed him to sell his livestock — which he used as collateral. The bank says he misrepresented the number of animals he owned, which he denies. Now a judge has ordered the seizure of Mr. Sodnomdarjaa’s family home — a tent — if he doesn’t come up with the rest of the money soon.

The cashmere market has dropped 40%.

Sounds like a noun to me, though I can see this being verbified. How long before we hear, “Oh man, I’ve been zudded!”? Well, maybe never, though we should. The zed. The ud. The end-of-the-line finality packed into a single syllablic grunt. There’s an emotional onomatopoeic quality to the word that gives voice to what it must feel like watching all hope plunge over the edge of a cliff.