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Reader question: Please explain “loan shark rate” in this sentence: “They were charged interest at a loan shark rate.” My comments: They had to borrow from money lenders who charge them an exorbitant interest rate. Loan shark refers to one of these greedy money lenders, be they a person, a gang or a bank. The question is, of course, why is a money lender called a loan shark? “Oh, the shark”, you see, “has pretty teeth, dear”, I’m quoting Mack the Knife, of course, sung by Louis Armstrong, “and he shows them, pearly white...” However, “when the shark bites with his teeth, dear, scarlet billows start to spread...” Now in the song, the shark is likened to MacHeath the serial killer who uses nothing but a jackknife. “Just a jackknife has MacHeath, dear, and he keeps it out of sight... Fancy gloves though wears MacHeath, dear, so there’s not a trace, mmm of red. On the sidewalk, Sunday morning, lies a body, oozing life. Someone sneaking around the corner, is that someone Mack the Knife?” So you see, the shark, pretty teeth and all, can be very lethal, as is Mac the Knife. Hence the shark is compared to greedy money lenders, whose effect on people can also be devastating – I think of debt prisons, broken families, suicides and so forth. Actually, it’s not fair to compare money lenders, who are human (I suppose), to sharks that roam the oceans. It’s not fair to the sharks, I mean. | 
