Browsing in the La Guardia airport book store yesterday, I spotted 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know by the editors of the American Heritage dictionaries. The first entry my eye fell on, with pleasant surprise, was laissez faire. Here's the entry:"An economic doctrine that opposes government regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws. Noninterference in the affairs of others."

The first part isn't perfect—but all things considered, not bad. I didn't have time to see if socialism made the cut.