Back `Swap' is from the practice of slapping hands together
D. Murali
ON THE diplomatic front, we saw the swap, across Wagah, of prisoners of India and Pakistan to push ahead the peace process, even as Zimbabwe and China swapped animals in tiger relations. And in the business sphere, the swap that made news recently was what the Birla group announced, that is, Indo Gulf shareholders getting one share of Indian Rayon for every three shares held, and a similar swap ratio for Birla Global members too, on the basis of valuations done by Bansi S. Mehta and Co, and Deloitte, Haskins and Sells.
Swap means exchange or substitute, according to Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Microsoft Word provides, as substitutes for swap, words such as change, change over, trade, swop, swop over, swap over, and switch, but not substitute.
It is not unusual that after much gruelling wait in the lounge when one settles down in one's favourite window seat, as ensured at the time of booking, the aisle occupant says, "Shall we swap?"
In Encarta, the example for swap reads, "Let's swap seats so I can sit next to Louise," and the word is explained as "to trade or exchange somebody or something for somebody or something else (informal)."
Workers may swap shifts; and shops advertise swaps that read `new for old' offering trade-in value for the old model. "I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favour of the kings of the world," is an earthy quote of Thomas A. Edison.
As a finance word, swap is "a contract in which the parties exchange liabilities on outstanding debts, either as a means of managing debt or in the business of trading," but the exchange of somebody for somebody is what the Wagah episode concerns.
However, Pakistan has been reported to have said that it would not swap Sarabjit with its prisoners in India. "In addition to the director swap, another change will see Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) star in the story of a first-rate loser who cops a plea with the drug enforcement administration," notes the Web site http://jam.canoe.ca reporting on The Death and Life of Bobby Z.
"The deal requires him to pose as the legendary surfer-drug dealer Bobby Z in a hostage swap with a Mexican drug lord." It can be `something' for `somebody', as in ransom extortion. "They proposed a straight swap of guns for hostages," is an example on http://dictionary.cambridge.org.
Swap means "to give in trade, barter... to take turns in telling (swap stories)," defines Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. "We spent the evening in the pub, swapping (telling each other) stories/jokes," is an example in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, along with these: "When you've finished reading your book, and I've finished mine, shall we swap? We swapped addresses with the people we met on holiday. When he got a job in a bank, he had to swap his jeans and T-shirt for a suit." You can use the word as a noun; for instance, "I thought Simon's food looked nicer than mine, so we did a swap."
That takes me to swap option, or swoption, which means "an option on a swap, usually an interest rate swap," as http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com explains. Receiver swap option a.k.a. call swaption is a contract in which the buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to enter into a swap receiving a predetermined fixed rate on a predetermined date in the future, explains www.isda.org.
And `payer swap option' a.k.a. put swaption is where "the buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to enter into a swap paying a predetermined fixed rate on a predetermined date in the future."
Swap is a derivative, where two counterparties exchange one stream of cash flows against another stream, and these streams are called the legs of the swap, states The Free Encyclopedia on http://en.wikipedia.org with a whole page of useful material.
Swap is "an exchange of streams of payments over time according to specified terms," as www.investorwords.com defines. "The most common type is an interest rate swap, in which one party agrees to pay a fixed interest rate in return for receiving a adjustable rate from another party."
See also asset swap, bond swap, liability swap, debt-equity swap, extension swap, and swap rate suggests the site. An example of `asset swap' is "the exchange of a fixed asset, such as a Treasury Bond with fixed and guaranteed payments, for a floating asset such as an index fund, which does not have a fixed or guaranteed return." `Bond swap' is "the simultaneous sale of one bond issue and the purchase of another, to stretch out maturities or for tax reasons."
Exploring further, you'd learn from Investor Words that `liability swap' is "an interest rate swap designed to alter the cash flow characteristics of an institution's liabilities in order to provide a better fit with its assets", and that `extension swap' is "a swap in which an investor extends the maturity of his investment by selling one security and buying another one with a longer maturity."
Swap refers to "an arrangement between the central banks of two countries for standby credit to facilitate the exchange of each other's currencies," in Fed-related terms on http://minneapolisfed.org.
`FX Swap' is "an agreement between two entities to exchange one currency for another at a forward exchange rate or at a sequence of forward rates," according to Quanto Financial Technology's glossary.
"Unlike single-currency swaps, cross-currency swaps often require an exchange of principal (at inception at the prevailing spot rate and then re-exchanged at maturity at the initial spot rate)." Catch up with swap assignment, swap book, swap fund, swap reversal, swap sale, and so forth on www.bloomberg.com.
Swap as an adverb means "hastily; at a snatch (a low word and local)," explains Webster's 1828 Dictionary. As verb meaning exchange, "this word is not elegant, but common in colloquial language in America."
The stigma has long left the word, and so Cambridge Dictionary of American English would speak of example such as, `The two computers can easily swap data'.
But Webster Dictionary, 1913 gives a dangerous meaning to swap as "To strike; — with off," as for example, "Swap off his head!" of Chaucer! Swap or swappie in Book of Slang on www.macquariedictionary.com.au is "a card in a collection which one is willing to swap, usually because it is a duplicate".
The word is traced to "Middle English swappen to strike; from the practice of striking hands in closing a business deal," at http://encarta.msn.com. Swap meet is "a gathering for the sale or barter of usually second-hand objects."
Online Etymology Dictionary has to say: "c.1300, `to strike, strike the hands together,' possibly imitative of the sound of hitting. The sense of `exchange, barter, trade' is first recorded 1594, possibly from the practice of slapping hands together as a sign of agreement in bargaining. The noun in this sense is attested from 1625." And swat is possibly an alteration of swap, `ultimately of imitative origin', postulates www.etymonline.com.
Engine swap involves replacement of a car's engine, and in shipping, swap body is a standard freight container, informs Wikipedia. Wife Swap is a reality television series, and `vote swapping' is a tactical voting practice among voters, it adds.
In computer science, swap means "move (a piece of a program) into memory," says http://lookwayup.com. "To move a program from fast-access memory to a slow-access memory" is `swap out', explains Free On-line Dictionary of Computing on http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk.
Swap can refer to a specific algorithm, says Wikipedia, and discusses `Xor swap algorithm in programming' and `Swap by addition and subtraction'. `Swap in' is the use of a hard disk (or a swap file) as virtual memory or `swap space'.
Swap means "to move segments of data in and out of memory," states the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia on www.tiscali.co.uk.
"For fast operation as much data as possible is required in main memory, but it is generally not possible to include all data at the same time. Swapping is the operation of writing and reading from the backup store, often a special space on the disc," it elaborates. And that may partially explain why the indicator of hard disk activity keeps glowing on your computer!
A friendlier explanation is on www.pcwebopaedia.com: "Swapping is a useful technique that enables a computer to execute programs and manipulate data files larger than main memory.
The operating system copies as much data as possible into main memory, and leaves the rest on the disk. When the operating system needs data from the disk, it exchanges a portion of data (called a page or segment) in main memory with a portion of data on the disk."
SWAP as an acronym is for Shared Wireless Access Protocol, Severe Weather Avoidance Plan, Sharing With A Purpose, Simple Workflow Access Protocol, Size Weight And Power, Student Work Abroad Program and System-Wide Accident Prevention, on www.acronymfinder.com.
A test to know if what you got as swap is good is to check whether you don't miss the original stuff. If you do, the swap is, instead, a stinging wasp!
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