Greenspan mastered language as Fed Chairman during his tenure which became known as “Greenspan-speak” where we hung on certain words in a sentence.

Current Fed Chairman Bernanke had a little difficulty initially but was able to create Bernanke-speak, a flavor of Greenspan-speak.

Why the initial stumble? Afterall he is known for his academic record:

* Won South Carolina’s State Spelling Bee at 11 years old
* 1590 out of 1600 on SAT exam (highest in the state)
* Class Valadictorian

Carol Baum’s [Bernanke’s Hippie Dictionary [Bloomberg]](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a4U83tNPsvgY&refer=columnist_baum) article reports that Bernanke created it as a high school junior. Perhaps this can give us some insight how he relates to the housing market as well:

Here are the highlights:

* Dig — to like, to enjoy, as “The hippie undertaker digs his work.”
* Down trip — a drag
* Drag — a down trip
* Hang-up — a neurosis or fetish
* Lie-In — a form of peaceful protest that often fails when demonstrators go to sleep
* Square — someone who stays home New Year’s Eve to hear Guy Lombardo play “Auld Lang Syne”
* Straight — as in “stiff” (see “dig”)
* Swing — what someone does who thinks Guy Lombardo is a football coach (see square)
* Trip — a rocket flight without the rocket

Far out, like, I hope that like, this clears things up, man…dig?