Xsters

[Victor Steinbok]

James Wimberley comments on the RBS bonus fallout:

http://goo.gl/FKsy
> In another glimpse into the entitlement world of the banksters, the
> /Sunday Times/ (yesterday, p.25, paywall) quotes the chairman of a
> rival bank sounding off indignantly

"Bankster" sounds like a put-down to me. On par with hucksters,
pranksters, gangster, monsters and ministers (OK, I'm kidding about the
last two). I suspect that mocking Xster terms have been "derived" from
"gangster". But 1) are most of them really mocking? (aside from the old
formations that happen to have the same coincidental ending) and 2) is
it really related to "gangsters"? It almost sounds like a variant of the
mocking -er generalizer (birther, tenther, deather, etc.)

     VS-)

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