Financial journalists usually spend the last few weeks of the working year doing the rounds of the banks and investors discussing the outlook for the year ahead.
Along with detailed forecasts and crystal-ball gazing, many institutions take time to ruminate on the year that has just passed. These discussions often give the eager scribes an early pointer on emerging market terminology. Terms that become the clichés of the future often make their debuts at such events.
In 2007, language was liquid, with pools of toxic slime breaching their ring-fences and drowning the markets in an alphabet soup of slurry. The years since have seen cliché terminology toughen up and fortification come in to fashion.
There is always a "wall of money" somewhere and in previous years the concern was that the famed "refinancing wall" would stop the faltering markets in their tracks. This year has been a good one for many investors but that is only because they have been able to climb a "wall of worry" to get there.
No doubt another wall will spring up during 2013 and enter market parlance. Maybe it is just because bankers spend too much time thinking about Brics.