A phrase that really irks me

It irks me when people refer to hedge funds as a catch-all.

There is the hedge fund as a distinct legal entity in some offshore haven - a really bad investment vehicle for investors in my opinion (high fees, lock-ins, side pockets, minimal transparency, and limited regulation...need I say more).

There are also hedge fund-type investment strategies - these usually differ from the traditional mutual fund-type strategies by incorporating such other investing elements as leverage, shorting, futures, options, other derivatives, alternative assets, greater theme orientation (event driven, global macro, etc.), etc..

There is also the euphemistic use of the phrase hedge fund to describe the actors behind the markets machinations. In the absence of anymore Long Term Capital Managements, it is most likely that the "hedge funds" implied by this use are probably large bank prop desks.

As with most industries, power is concentrated, with 80% of the assets residing in 10% of the hedge funds (industry has roughly $2 trillion in assets, spread among 5000 odd hedge funds).