Dry powder to do what?! Is this americanism? I've been here for over 8 years and every month I find some wording that's just bizarre, like as if there was a competition for ways in how to confuse someone.
This is a very common term for business people and especially investors and startups. It's a short phrase that carries a lot of meaning and packs a lot of punch.
Google Gemini:
> In finance, dry powder refers to readily available cash or liquid assets that a company, investor, or fund manager holds in reserve for future investments or to meet obligations during economic downturns. It's a metaphor, originating from the need to keep gunpowder dry for use in battle, symbolizing preparedness and flexibility in financial contexts.
> In essence, dry powder is unspent capital waiting to be deployed
This one term packs in all of that meaning into two words, so it is quite a useful tool. "Cash" alone doesn't have an implied context, whereas "dry powder" is immediately understood for strategy and positioning.
It's also nice to have analogies that are striking and evocative. It makes language fun and flowery instead of dusty and spartan. Business people have to business all day, and this injects a little flavor and excitement with wordplay. Drawing up images of 17th century battles is nice when the reality is emailing back and forth.
There lots of other phrases like this that you'll stumble upon. Someone should make a dictionary of these at some point.
Honestly, I wonder what makes anyone think that Grammarly is the right centerpiece for an AI rollup?
Perhaps you are familiar with similar phrases “ammunition” and “war chest”?
No, is financialism, which is basically the same thing but I digress.
> Dry powder is a slang term referring to marketable securities that are highly liquid and considered cash-like - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/drypowder.asp
Finance seems particularly filled with terms with no real connection attached to the concepts at hand, not sure why. Sounds cool I suppose?
Dry gun powder is ready to use, allowing you to fire whenever. Much like liquid assets, ready whenever.
If your powder gets wet, it'll take you a good amount of drying before it's of any use. Much like illiquid assets, would take some time to be useful, but still useful nonetheless.
I first heard it a few months ago when Chrystia Freeland, then Canada's Finance Minister, resigned and used it in her resignation letter. The meaning was immediately clear to me.
> "That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war," Freeland wrote.
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2127174/finance-mini...