The press is full of discussion of the American 'sub-prime' mortgage market.

Let's be real. 'Sub-prime' refers to people. The Guardian explains the use of the term today as follows

US sub-prime mortgages totalled $600bn (£300bn) last year, accounting for one-fifth of the US home-loan market. About $1.3 trillion in sub-prime mortgages - equivalent in size to the economy of California - are currently outstanding. Americans classed as sub-prime essentially do not have high enough Fico ratings to borrow from a Federal Reserve-backed institution. Borrowers are given Fico scores created by Fair Isaac & Co Credit to determine whether they will repay their loans. It is not just the poorest Americans who are affected by the current crisis, but also better-off borrowers with 100% mortgages. When house prices stopped going up and interest rates started increasing, there was no economic incentive to repay.

Put simply this means that the term 'sub prime' pejorative. We're talking about people who through no fault of their own (being lowly paid is not a sin) are struggling to buy a home.

So why brand them lesser beings?

The language of finance needs a lot of attention.