The point of a metaphor is to describe something so that the other person will be able to understand the original point. Choosing a metaphor is not a case of finding something as similar as possible; you have to find something that the other person will already understand. Consequently, the credit card metaphor is far better despite being less accurate.

That's a fair point but the massive popularity of payday loans in the UK suggests that many people don't understand that either.

Any business manager in a position to hire programmers, ought to be able to understand options, the concept appears every day in business.

> "... the concept appears every day in business."

Umm, no. It does not. Maybe in finance or procurement but it is certainly not a term in general use.

Every company that sells things at a fixed price now, for delivery later, does this. They may call it something else, but the concept is the same.

Sure (as I tried to point out) but that doesn't mean that (a) every manager in the company understands it or (b) people in other types of business/industry understand it. Claiming that the concept exists is pretty useless if the appropriate language isn't used to describe it. For example, telling my Dad that he really needs to abate his ingestion of sodium chloride is not going to be as effective as telling him to cut down on salt.

What is call option?

/s

Let's say you are an airline and I am an oil company. You want to have a predictable cost for your fuel so you can plan, I want to charge whatever is the market price at the time. So a bank comes along and agrees, for a modest fee, that in a years time, you can buy fuel at a fixed price. In a year, they buy fuel from me and give it to you. If my price is lower, they pocket the difference as profit, but if it's higher, then they have to eat the cost and therefore make a loss (which is unlikely to be entirely covered by the fee you already paid them, but that's fine, because what you were really paying for was peace of mind).

People have been doing this with agricultural products for at least 3000 years.

Agriculture and airlines tend to use futures to hedge, not options.

A (long) futures contract is the right AND obligation to purchase a commodity at a set price at a set time (and place).

A (call) options contract is the right BUT NOT the obligation to purchase a commodity at a set price within a set time (for the most typical American-style option).