I stooze, you stooze, they stooze, he’s a stoozer, she’s got a stoozepot, we’re all stoozing.
While the practice of stoozing – making money from earning high interest on 0% debt – is less profitable than it used to be, I’ve discovered the Oxford English Corpus (the 2 billion word research body behind the Oxford English Dictionary) has an open file on it.
While other lexicons have included or nodded at the word, the OED is the bastion of language legitimacy, so to get it in there is the true test.
Countdown to inclusion?
This all came about while I was recording a week’s stint as the guest in the dictionary corner on Channel 4’s Countdown; one of the treats of doing the show (‘specially for a Scrabble player like me) is you get to sit next to the lovely Suzie Dent, the permananent lexicographer there, and can therefore fire word questions at her all day.
Note to self: If on again, I must remember to ask her why being full of awe (awful) is bad, but having some awe (awesome) is good?
While there the presenter Jeff Stelling asked me about stoozing, which led to a discussion with Suzie. She promised to follow it up with the OED who she’s affiliated with, and I received this email.
“It’s confirmed that they have a file on it which means that it will be considered for inclusion each time a new edition of any of their current English dictionaries is being prepared. At the moment (because of low interest rates?) it has slightly slipped from view in the Oxford corpus – a database of current English which includes thousands of texts,web pages, newspapers, chat room and forum posts, etc. That doesn’t however militate against it coming back into view more prominently.
In short, it is on the active consideration list. So keep at it!”
Can you still stooze?
Of course it’s true the return on interest rates and the introduction of balance transfer fees mean Stoozing is less profitable than it used to be, it can still make those who are debt free money.
The easiest way is simply to get the longest 0% for spending credit card possible, which is roughly for a year. Then spend on it rather than using your bank account (though do ensure you make the card’s minimum repayments). This way your unspent cash builds in your bank account and you can save it in a high interest savings account or cash ISA
Those with decent credit limits can easily make £100s a year (though do it carefully, see the full stoozing guide) for more info.
