Performance Perspectives Blog

Some portfolio managers are more erinaceous than others … explained

by | Dec 5, 2012

One of the daily alerts I subscribe to is the “word of the day,” from dictionary.com. Many of the words are quite fascinating, and today’s struck me as one that was worthy of being highlighted in a post. Chances are you’ve already guessed what the word is.

erinaceous er-uh-NEY-shuhs, adjective: Of the hedgehog kind or family.

Examples are offered, including “[Thoreau was] the most erinaceous of American writers. Ideas struck out from his writing like porcupine quills, guaranteed to prick the hide of even the most thick-skinned, reader.”

You may recall that the late investor Barton Biggs brought us Hedgehogging, a book I enjoyed and have often recommended. And so, it was he that extended the term “hedgehogging” to the hedge fund industry, and thus it seems appropriate to carry this a bit further and suggest that those who take up this craft might therefore be thought of as being erinaceous. It seems to work, does it not?

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