Words for Nerds--Defalcate

Defalcate is a word every executive should know, and know how to do. What does defalcate mean?

A. To unexpectedly default on a loan.
B. To embezzle or misuse funds.
C. To verbally abuse or mistreat.
D. To experience "Montezuma's Revenge".

Believe it or not, the correct answer is "B"--defalcate means to embezzle or misuse funds. Obviously, defalcate is a Funny Business favorite, since there are few things more amusing than having your 401(k) or pension plan swept out from under you by a conniving Vice President on his way to Kuwait in a private jet paid for with your payroll deductions.

It calls to mind Warren Zevon's Mr. Bad Example--

"I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot."

Come to think of it, I'm surprised Warren didn't work "defalcate" into these lyrics. After all, he was, as David Letterman famously pointed out, the first and only lyricist to use the word "brucellocis" in a song.

Talk about talent!!