Confused about CGT

John_Pierpoint

I don't really know what a "Jewish Accountant" is, at the risk of being portrayed a peddling anti Semitic stereotypes, I will try to explain:

I had a friend who trained as a articled clerk at a largish firm of London Chartered Accountants and the expression seemed to be used there
(Friend is long dead so it gives you some idea of how long ago this was - probably nearer to WW1 than to the present day).

I think it meant something like:

- "good with money" from a long historical association with banking.

- excessive attention to detail.

- prepared to haggle a discount off anything, as a sort of sport.

- able to argue the hind leg off a donkey.

- a suggestion of a loyalty to some "higher ideal".

To my way of thinking the above attributes are a natural result for a group of people who for centuries must have felt insecure, like foreigners in Christendom:
- Unable to own land - the ultimate status symbol.
- Able to loan money at interest.
- At risk of having to pack up and start over.
So
- Encourage children into trades that can pack up and restart with minimal physical assets:
Goldsmith?
Tailor?
or better get them trained in the professions, for high value added jobs, where the skill in carried in the brain:
Goldsmith -> Banker ->
Accountant.
Doctor.
and from an education system that encourages discussion, debate and argument:
Lawyer.

I will leave the last word to this American blogger:
http://dannymiller.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/santa_monica_be.html


I think the phrase may be in more current usage in North America, as here being "careful with money" may mean Scottish or someone from Yorkshire.