On Sun, 21 Jan 2001, David Bakin wrote:
This article is very good, and having read the conference paper earlier in the year I finished it with only one question: What's a 'quant' ... and is it good or bad to be one?
"Ten years ago, Jean-Marc Eber, then a quant at Société Générale, ..."
The OED has: 1. A pole for propelling a barge, esp. one with a cap at the top and a prong at the bottom to prevent it from sinking in mud. Also attrib., as quant-pole. and 2. In a windmill: 1924 Trans. Newcomen Soc. III. 42 All the framing and gearing of these mills are of wood, the only important parts of iron being the wrought iron gudgeons upon which the shafts revolve, and perhaps the `quants' or spindles which drove the runner stones. So perhaps he was tall, thin and fond of wearing a cap? :-) -- Jón Fairbairn Jon.Fairbairn@cl.cam.ac.uk 31 Chalmers Road jf@cl.cam.ac.uk Cambridge CB1 3SZ +44 1223 570179 (pm only, please)