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The defines a spoof as 鈥淎 humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.鈥� The offers this definition: 鈥淎 spoof is something such as an article or television program that seems to be about a serious matter but is actually a joke.鈥� This is how most people have understood the word since it was coined in the late 19^th century by the English comedian, Arthur Roberts.

As with everything else, today鈥檚 technology and the crimes it now permits have not only transformed human relations but extended the meaning of words that had a simpler meaning in the past. Illicit activities are sometimes by using existing words and adding the suffix 鈥�-ing,鈥� such as 鈥渟watting,鈥� 鈥渟nowshoeing,鈥� 鈥渨aterfalling鈥� and 鈥渟ubscription bombing.鈥� Other nefarious practices have required inventing new words following the same pattern, such as 鈥減hishing,鈥� 鈥減hreaking鈥� and 鈥渄oxxing.鈥�

One word for an electronic scam most people were not familiar with emerged in the news this week with explosive impact when one of the world鈥檚 biggest banks, JP Morgan Chase, was fined $920 million for 鈥渟poofing.鈥� Spoofing has multiple meanings in the world of cyber criminality, but until this week nobody would have imagined that the practice merited a billion-dollar fine by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

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Investopedia offers this definition of spoofing: 鈥淪poofing is a type of scam in which criminals attempt to obtain someone’s personal information by pretending to be a legitimate business, a neighbor, or some other innocent party.鈥� The Federal Communication Commission has even to warn people about spoofing and what to do if they are spoofed.

In the world of banking, spoofing has a different meaning. Reporting on the JP Morgan scandal, Business Insider that it describes the practice 鈥渨here traders put in large orders to buy or sell a security with no intention of executing them, creating the appearance of demand or supply for a particular asset and helping move that asset in the trader’s desired direction.鈥�

Here is today鈥檚 3D definition:

Spoofing:

A form of imitation derived from the world of literature and entertainment that implied both making fun of another writer and rendering homage by exaggerating aspects of style, employed now, in the era of electronic communications, to describe any means of deception focused on the serious business of making money.

Contextual Note

The fine of $920 million is of course a 鈥渟ettlement,鈥� meaning that undoubtedly the gain from the crimes committed will in the end easily cover the cost of the penalty. The Motley Fool the fine 鈥渢he largest the CFTC has ever imposed for any spoofing case.鈥� It may seem mind-bogglingly enormous, but it will undoubtedly be dismissed as just a routine 鈥渁djustment鈥� to the balance sheet as everyone gets back to business as usual. JP Morgan Chase is still the biggest and most powerful bank in the Western world. Daniel Pinto, co-president of JP Morgan and chief executive of the Corporate & Investment Bank, as if surprised by this wrongdoing, , 鈥淭he conduct of the individuals referenced in today鈥檚 resolutions is unacceptable and they are no longer with the firm.鈥� 

Now that the evildoers have been identified and dismissed, the bank can get back to its normal business of purely honest and over-the-board dealings. The anthropologist , who has written the authoritative on debt, 鈥淒ebt: The First 5,000 Years,鈥� likes to point out that at least in one year recently, 85% of JP Morgan Chase鈥檚 profit came from fees and penalties, which is certainly an honest and transparent way to make money. Graeber sees it as a sign of the fundamentally parasitic role banks play in today鈥檚 economy.

鈥淭he CFTC also said that JPMorgan Securities did not stop the trading practices even though there were many clear signs of the practice,鈥� states The Motley Fool. Pinto鈥檚 dismissing the culprits only after the case began to be litigated demonstrates how the bank works. The chief executive either condoned the practice as it was occurring over eight years or was unaware of 鈥渢he many clear signs鈥� that it was going on. In such a case, either the law should pursue Pinto himself for aiding and abetting as well as covering for a crime or else his board should fire him for incompetence.

But the bank works much in the same way as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has acted in the face of the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi two years ago. The people who call the shots and manage the operations will never be held to account. Even those subalterns who are blamed as sacrificial lambs will likely receive a mild punishment, and everyone will go away on the promise never to do such dastardly things again.

Historical Note

In the world of literature, great wits have for centuries used parody, lampooning and spoofing of their peers. Think of Miguel de Cervantes who, with 鈥淒on Quixote,鈥� written in the early 17^th century, spoofed chivalric literature, or Henry Fielding鈥檚 鈥淪hamela,鈥� an 18^th-century parody of Samuel Richardson鈥檚 sentimental novel 鈥淧amela; or Virtue Rewarded.鈥� A certain acceleration in the practice occurred in the English-speaking world in the 19^th century, when writers as different as Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain excelled in spoofing other well-known writers. As The Guardian contributor Shirley Dent back in 2009, 鈥淎nd still today literary spoofs can brighten up the most tedious in-tray of the most desk-locked literary lover.鈥�

Spoofing has always been associated with fun, and even though in the literary world spoofs have always contained an element of serious criticism, the act of spoofing another writer or literary style invariably contained a message of respect for works that were successful. Pointing to a fault or a quirk of style is not a condemnation of another鈥檚 work. It can also be an invitation to engage with it.

Lewis Carroll mercilessly attacked the leader of the romantic movement and England鈥檚 poet laureate, William Wordsworth, in his , 鈥淭he Aged Aged Man鈥� or 鈥淗addock鈥檚 Eyes.鈥� Carroll parodies Wordsworth鈥檚 famous poem 鈥淩esolution and Independence.鈥� By composing a poem that becomes increasingly absurd and doing so with a singsong rhythm so different from Wordsworth鈥檚 sober style, he renders homage to romantic poet鈥檚 literary importance while at the same time subtly suggesting that Wordsworth might, at times, have been slightly lacking in a sense of humor.

We can take it as a measure of the impoverishment of our general culture that the idea of a spoof has been transformed into something sinister rather than fun. The spoofing targeted by the FFC (telephone scams) or the CFTC (deceptive purchasing orders) contains no suggestion of fun and even less of homage. It is now simply associated with the quest for money and power over other people. 

That is what our culture has become. No activity whose reward is something other than the gain of money and power can be taken seriously today. defines phishing as 鈥渁 scam by which an Internet user is duped (as by a deceptive e-mail message) into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly.鈥� Even this practice mocks or spoofs the tranquility of the fisherman spending hours on the banks of a river, enjoying the summer weather, waiting for a catch. Lightheartedness itself and the simple enjoyment of existence died decades ago.

*[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil鈥檚 Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of The Daily Devil鈥檚 Dictionary on 51吃瓜.]

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.