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分享一个知识点： Reader question: What does this sentence – With US financial markets under their most severe stress in years, if not decades, the smart money was on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates on Sept. 16 (Business Week, September 16, 2008) – mean? And particularly “smart money”? My comments: The sentence says simply most people expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. “Smart money” is a term I believe to have been derived from gambling. In horse racing for example, punters (gamblers) take bets on difference horses to win the race. And they base their bets on past records (which horses have won) and so forth and put their money on a horse they or most people expect to win. And this money is “smart money”, a wise investment. Therefore, if the smart money is on Horse A to win, it simply means Horse A is favored (considered most likely to win). The smart money, for example, was on Rafael Nadal to win the on-going French Open tennis at Roland Garros. That one was an easy pick, for after all Nadal had won the last four French titles in a row. However, it was not to be as the Spaniard was upset in the fourth round by a young Swedish unknown in Robin Soderling. Well, that’s the way it is – nobody wins for ever. In other words, smart money isn’t always smart, i.e. predictions by analysts, experts, insiders, pundits, spin masters or the so-called informed sources aren’t always right – they can’t always be right, just like weather forecasts can’t always be right. | 
