The deindustrialization of a nation's economy that occurs when Wall Street financiers use fictitious capital to finance highly leveraged speculative investments of astronomically high risk that simultaneously devalue the nation's currency and destroy its productive capacity by stifling credit to the real economy.
Those fuckers on Wall Street have plundered our booty and given us all a scorching case of derivative disease
In each of these examples, the value of the derivative is related in some way to the price of something else. When the market price of (say) an ounce of gold goes from $1000/oz to $1050/oz, the return to the owner of 1 oz. of actual gold is 5%. But for the owner of a call option or a future, the return is much, much greater than that.
A derivative can be used to multiply risk AND potential profits to speculators; but it can be used for the counterparty to minimize risk by locking in prices, or by hedging against risk.
The economic crisis of 2008 has really focused attention on the financial derivative market.
A lesser known Calculus term, literally meaning a sudden change in acceleration, or a "jerk".
School Playground Bully: "Shut the fuck up and gimme yo money. And yo lunch, nigga."
Poor Playground Nerd: "Um, no hey! YOU shut up, you third derivative!"
<School Playground Bully runs away squealing like a little girl.>