THE CAT'S PAJAMAS XXIX

Tad Tuleja 

A collection of the (mostly) true origins of familiar phrases

BULLS and BEARS

The stock market terms bullish and bearish, which refer respectively to an active, optimistic market and a slow, cautious one, have nothing to do with the supposed aggressiveness of bulls or the sluggishness of hibernating bears. In the eighteenth-century London stock exchange, trading notices were posted each day on a large cork pinboard (the precursor of today's "big board"). These notices were called bulletins or "bulls". If the board were plastered with notices at the end of a heavy trading day, those present would speak of the "bull-ish" trend. If the volume had been light, the pinboard would be relatively notice-free, or bare - and they would speak of "bearish" activity.