Introduction
When people say money talks, they are usually talking about someone who gets to have their own way because of the the wealth they have amassed. The phrase money talks can be traced back to G. Torriano's Italian Proverbs, and can also be explained like this: An offer of money is often the most persuasive argument in getting someone to do what you want. All else might fail, but money might just do the work.
History
This is not a new phenomenon – as long as there has been a concept of money (be it in the form of beads, shells, cattle, cocoa nuts, coins, currency notes or any one of the myriad forms of money human beings have been in the habit of using at different stages of civilization), it has also been true that money talks – those with the most resources under their control always manage to turn facts in their favour and seem to sail smoothly through life.
To understand this, we can take up the example of corruption. Imagine a third-world country where the procedure through which a licence to set up a sugar refinery is granted in a way that is non-transparent. You have to go from one official to another to get things done – because of the greed of these people, one who wants a licence and can pay the government officials to get it, will be the one who will emerge victorious. Simply because money talks.
Features
There would not be many people today who would not like hard, cold cash, and would be willing to do anything for it, because money talks! At another level, money talks also shows how our behaviour towards people changes when we know they are wealthy – people just tend to be more polite and accommodating, and also believe that wealthy people will be more civilized and polished than others. This may or many not be true, but because of the money they have, this is the initial response of most people, though it may change as time passes.
If you really want to have a deep understanding of the phrase money talks, you could try listening to AC/DC's song by the same name. In this song, a rich man believes that he can get any woman he wants, or the woman he wants, simply by showing her the money he has.
Tips and Comments
There is also another proverb which is somewhat along the same lines – money talks, wealth whispers. This clearly refers to the disdain that well-established, 'old' rich families have for the 'nouveau riche', or people who have come into wealth only recently. What they mean to say by twisting the 'money talks' phrase like this is that only those who are unused to money go wild when they have it, and try to make it apparent to the world in any way they can. That is, they indulge in an ostentatious display of wealth. However, those who have had money in their family for generations do not need to resort to such tactics and do not have to prove to all the world that they are well-off.
