| Abstract: El Nino is so versatile and ubiquitous
-- he causes torrential rains in Peru and Ecuador, droughts and fires in
Indonesia, and abnormal weather globally -- that the term is now part of
everyone's vocabulary; it designates a mischievous gremlin. Hence, if
the stock market in New York is erratic, or the traffic jams in London
are exceptionally bad, it must be El Nino. This is consistent with our
practice of using meteorological phenomena as metaphors in our daily
speech: the president is under a cloud, the examination was a breeze. We
know exactly what these statements mean because we have a life-long
familiarity with clouds and breezes. |