It’s not that we think people shouldn’t use “ground zero” in the manner it was used prior to becoming shorthand for the site of the former World Trade Center — as an expression, i.e., “Murray Hill is ground zero for fratty douchebags.” We aren’t that delicate, and also, when you alter your vocabulary the terrorists win, or something. But we wouldn’t name our dog or our car or our freaking hedge fund Ground Zero, which is what former Lehman Brothers executive Edward Fillippi has done, because that would be creepy and weird. We can’t help but wonder what prompted this decision. Maybe he said to himself, “What can I do to distract people from the fact that I worked at Lehman Brothers, the downtown–New York–based bank that collapsed disastrously and nearly took the entire financial system with it? I know! I’ll name it in homage to an even worse collapse, one that actually killed people and precipitated several long and tragic wars! Then everyone will think whatever I am doing is not nearly as bad.”
Ex-Lehman Banker Filippi Raises $35 Million for Commodity Fund [Bloomberg via DealBook/NYT]
