Q&A: ‘Filthy rich’?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, dirty money…

Q: Hi AWC, where does the phrase “filthy rich” come from?

A: It was coined by the world’s first pig pen tycoon.

Q: Really?

A: Nope.

Q: I hate you.

A: Okay, seriously though, the phrase we use is only a century old, but its back story goes way back.

Q: Origin story! Tell me more…

A: Well, we start in Greece with the phrase ‘aiskhron kerdos’ – which roughly translated as “filthy lucre” in English around 1400.

Q: Lucre?

A: Yes. “Lucre” is financial gain, money or profit. 

Q: A Greek profit! Bahahahaaa.

A: Well, “lucre” came from Old French, which in term came from the Latin ‘lucrum’ – meaning “material gain”. And to have “filthy lucre” was to have made those material gains under dodgy circumstances.

Q: Ill-gotten gains!

A: Precisely. This concept of unjust gain or “filthy lucre” pops up in the translated Bible of the 1500s a few times too – it seems that God wasn’t a fan of accumulating wealth through dishonourable circumstances. 

Q: Like the Ancient Egyptians?

A: Huh?

Q: Well they had all those pyramid schemes going on, right? Bahahaha.

A: Cute. 

Q: Okay. So, the word “lucrative” – that must be related, right?

A: It is. This adjective means “highly profitable” and turned up about a century after “lucre”, around the start of the 16th century. From here, the term “filthy lucre” set the tone for this kind of greedy dodgy money-grabbing activity. It’s still listed in dictionaries today.

Q: But we are still only describing the activity, not the person.

A: That is a very astute observation. And one can guess your next question.

Q: When did “filthy rich” arrive?

A: We first see it in modern print in a 1909 book named A Certain Rich Man by William Allen White. In this, while he did indeed use the phrase “filthy rich”, it was more literal – used to describe shameful entanglements by the rich with mistresses or other individuals. 

Q: So “filthy” in the “dirty old man” sense?

A: Haha, essentially, yes. Curiously, the figurative use of “dirty” had been around since “dirty tricks” of the 1670s. “Doing dirty work” followed in the 1760s, “dirty jokes” in 1856 and by the 1860s, we were airing each other’s “dirty linen” or laundry. But it wouldn’t be until 1923 that someone gave the first “dirty look” and 1932 before they gave that look to a “dirty old man”. 

Q: Fascinating!

A: And the Great Depression is in fact where our final chapter takes place. As the economy plunged in 1929, a small Ohio newspaper suggested that the rich might be taking advantage of a depressed market, as people needed money for food. Specifically, they reported: “If any of our stock-gambling filthy rich want a winter home, now is the time to acquire it.”

Q: Ironic because the ones who couldn’t afford bathtubs were likely the filthy ones.

A: True. At this time, to call someone “filthy rich” was still draped in a dishonourable tinge, such as it was that so much of the world was suffering at the time. However, over the decades, as the world became more prosperous in general, the term has morphed to be less of a moral story.

Q: And has it been popular the whole time?

A: It was fairly low key and niche actually until the 1980s, when a combination of a popular short-lived TV show by the same name and just the excesses of capitalism became commonplace. The phrase has seen an upturn since then.

Q: So today, to be “filthy rich” isn’t really about being filthy or dishonourable?

A: That’s right. Whereas before, it would be assumed that you gained your wealth through questionable means, today the “filthy” adjective is simply about quantity – in this case excessive amounts. The way it retains its relevance is that someone might be so “filthy rich” that it’s almost obscene!

Q: So, to recap. It started life as “filthy lucre” – dishonourable material gains. It was rebooted as “filthy rich” in the Great Depression, but today is no longer about HOW you got your cash, but HOW MUCH you have!

A: Exactly!

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