Is a diamond worth a hill of beans?

Diamonds and other gemstones are weighed in carats. Today the weight of a carat is defined as 0.2g but if we pull up the etymological roots of 'carat' we find ourselves taken back to mother earth. Which always nice.

Carat came to the English language from the Italian 'carato', this in turn came from the Arabian word 'kirat'. In ancient Arabic, kirat meant four grains of carob beans, a unit of weight. Arabia was the jewelers of the ancient world. A 10 kirat diamond would weigh the same as 40 carob beans. When traders gathered in bustling markets or when miners huddled round the dusty fire in the darkening dessert sky, they would weigh out their precious jewels in beans. If one of them had ever found a gem that weighed the same as a hill of beans they would have been stinking bloody rich.

Bling 'rocks' have always been a sign of power and today's world is no exception. Rappers, footballers, dictators, they all like to display their bling bling and show us all what big dicks they are. It's pleasing to remember that those signs of power are weighed out in beans.