The phrase sucker rally (also known in the trade as a bull trap) isn't very new. In fact, its print pedigree stretches back to at least the fall of 1982, where it appeared in such august publications as Time, Newsweek, and Business Week, as well as William Safire's language column in The New York Times. It merits a Word Spy post 18 years later not only because stock pundits are using it quite often in these jittery market times, but also because it's a great phrase. Stock talk may be mind-numbingly dull, but stock jocks seem to have a knack for coining fun and colorful phrases (see the Related Words list for proof).