The high life

Whenever I read about an amazing swankienda, I'm struck with curiosity over how much money someone would have to have before setting aside that much of it for a house--especially one home among many, as often is the case--could possibly sound like a good idea.  Here's a little getaway penthouse in Monaco that's expected to sell for $400 million.  For $400 million, I'd want more than a water-slide between my dance floor and my swimming pool.  I'd want an island and a small navy and air force.

There's always the question of how you defend yourself while flaunting that much concentrated wealth, like wandering into a disco wearing the Hope Diamond.  The recent assault on a Saudi prince's motorcade in Paris must be making a lot of high-rollers thoughtful.  What kind of rich do you have to be to be carrying $350,000 in walking-around money?

12 comments:

Grim said...

"Swankienda."

Congratulations -- I have never heard that word before. :) Been a while since I encountered a word I didn't recognize at all.

Texan99 said...

Try this one: http://www.playbuzz.com/jonb10/how-many-english-words-do-you-actually-know

Grim said...

Nifty. "Wow, You Vicious Vocabulary Viper! 27/30." I missed 2, 6, and 13.

Texan99 said...

28

raven said...

I thought I had a decent vocabulary..
Missed 11! They were words I have never read or heard of, however.

"Brontitude"
1-The condition of being dunb as a dinosaur.
2- a severe coarse rasping chest infection.

Ymar Sakar said...

Most of the world still uses feudal scales. 90% of the peasants have little to nothing. The aristocrats are 5% at the top and they get most of everything. It's the natural way of things.

Even American Presidents like Hussein was helping out the aristos in Honduras by stomping on the people who actually liked independence.

Texan99 said...

EH--yes, looks like I double-clicked or something. Link fixed now!

There were many words on that test that I'd never seen, either, so in many cases I was was making an informed guess based on roots, and in several cases I guessed blind.

MikeD said...

I too am a Vocabulary Viper. I missed #11.

And raven, brontitude is from the Greek. Bronto meaning thunder. Brontosaurus = thunder lizard. So I only knew that one because I never outgrew a childhood love of dinosaurs.

Grim said...

I knew all the words I got right, except one -- the one with "lex" in the middle.

But I wouldn't be surprised if your work with Project Gut has given you a highly expansive vocabulary! English has been impoverished in some respects over the last century, although perhaps because we have adopted many new words for emerging technologies.

DL Sly said...

I missed one. Dammit!
Now I'm embarrassed.
0>;~/

douglas said...

28. Knowing roots and structure definitely helped. I also thought the ones that gave the definition and you picked the right word were easier than the ones that reversed that.

Texan99 said...

Yes, and the 50/50 multiple-choice approach certainly helped. I'd have been hard-pressed to scare up a definition of many of those words out of thin air.