As some of you know, we continue to subscribe to the Washington Post even though we now live “way out here in (almost Heaven) West Virginia.” Since the election, the Post has been full of articles about the “lame duck” Congress. I know what the (political) term lame duck means – it refers to elected officials that are approaching the end of their tenure, usually due to the fact that they have been voted out of office. Usually a lame duck’s successor has already been elected. Obviously lame ducks tend to have less political power because other elected officials are less inclined to cooperate with them, and of course some just don’t care, because they’re leaving anyway…
I looked up the origin of the term and it had nothing to do with politics – it comes from the London Stock Market and referred to investors who were unable to pay their debts. (In a literal sense, it refers to a duck that is unable to keep up with its flock, making it a target for predators.) It apparently began to be used by politicians in the 19th century – it was mentioned in 1863 in the Congressional Globe (the official record of the U.S. Congress) when it made mention of “… ‘lame ducks’ or broken down politicians.”
Politics, like just about every clique or profession, has its own language and uses terms and phrases that a lot of people don’t understand. I’ve been involved with the government for a lot of years and probably have heard “govermentese” as much as, or more than a lot of people and a lot of the terminology is “funny-sounding.”
Take for instance the term Dark Horse – in the political world, it means a candidate or someone that emerges to prominence, after being previously little known. The term dark horse of course originally came from horse racing – a dark horse was one that wasn’t known to the bookies and was difficult to place bets on…
Then you have Gerrymander – the re-organization of voting districts by the party in power to ensure more votes for their candidates. I happen to remember from History Class (Ms. Brown would be proud) that the term originated in Massachusetts when the Governor (Eldridge Gerry) changed political boundaries and the result resembled a salamander – a Boston newspaper called it not a salamander, but a Gerrymander.
The term Muckraker refers to a journalist that seeks out the scandalous activities of public officials. (I think the term was derived from a character in “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” the Man with the Muck Rake; the character could never look up, only down.)
McCarthism – is the practice of smearing people with baseless accusations. It came into being after Senator Joe McCarthy harmed or destroyed the careers of many prominent Americans by branding them as Communists in the 1950s.
Red Tape refers to government paperwork or procedures that are slow and difficult. The term stems from an 18th century practice in Britain where official papers were bound with a reddish twine.
Filibuster is an attempt by a Senator, or group of Senators to obstruct the passage of a bill by talking continuously.
Pork Barrel is used to describe wasteful and unnecessary projects that politicians secure for their local districts. The phrase originated in the days when salted pork was occasionally handed out to slaves from large barrels. Someone once wrote that the mad rush of politicians to get their district’s share of treasury funds looked like slaves rushing to the pork barrel.
So politics is a funny (and sometimes scary) world, not only because of some of the “funny sounding” terminology, but because political actions have serious and far-reaching implications. Nonetheless, politics create a lot of laughs – often unintentionally. During the last presidential campaign, John McCain misspoke and said, “I will veto every single beer.” Of course he meant to say (I assume) every “bill.”
Every U.S. President is fodder for ridicule – Obama is taking his licks now, just like Bush before him did…
Present day political slogans just don’t seem to have the same ring that they did in the past – I remember “I like Ike,” but to be honest, since I’ve been old enough to pay attention, there aren’t many more that come to mind. Some of the older slogans are more appealing to me – like “Keep Cool With Coolidge” – that’s pretty cool. I particularly liked a couple of the Roosevelt’s slogans – Teddy had one that went like, “You Can’t Beat Somebody With Nobody,” and FDR had one I especially like: “In Hoover We Trusted, Now We are Busted.”
You just can’t get away from politics – whether you know it or not, you “play politics” daily. It’s gotten a bad name (probably deservedly) – I’ve heard it said that politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should be changed regularly and for the same reason.
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