Fungible is an adjective that means something is interchangeable. For example, the Federal or State Government might collect tax revenue from several sources, but most can be used for any purpose once collected. We often think of using fungible when things are indistinguishable, like dollars.
“The city collected property taxes and other fees, but once they were in the bank, they became fungible.”
“Gold has been popular over the centuries because it is fungible; one ounce can be easily exchanged for another without losing value.”
“Shares of stock on the markets are fungible, allowing investors to buy and sell them easily.”
“Cars and trucks are rarely fungible because of the recurring maintenance and wear.”
Then, the word fungible popped up in the crypto world with the acronym NFT, meaning Non-Fungible-Token. But there are fungible tokens as well as non-fungible ones.
Bitcoin advocates consider it fungible. To be fungible, a token must be interchangeable and divisible for use as a currency. Digital artwork is an example of a non-fungible token since it is neither interchangeable nor divisible.
Caterwauling is a loud and vocal cry of protest brought on by some adverse event. We might think of this as a protest by fans of a sports team brought on by trading away a famous player. Caterwauling is also expanded to mean dissatisfaction, resentment, or pain.
“The protest song was nothing more than caterwauling by a bunch of teenagers.”
“The Bobcat had lost his mate and spent his nights caterwauling as he walked through the woods.”
“The short sellers spent most of their days caterwauling as the GameStop stock rose ever higher.”
Of course, these two words can be combined into a single sentence.
“Financial novices often lament fungible token losses with caterwauling cries of protest and sorrow.”
“The caterwauling in the crowded trading floor made it difficult to focus on the fungible stocks being traded.”
