“Gerrymander,” “blue states,” and “pink tape.” These phrases populate headlines and newspaper articles usually, with many writers taking their that means without any consideration, however a glance by means of historical past can reveal shocking adjustments in that means over time.
In a political panorama challenged by private interpretation, etymology could be a dependable narrator. Tracing a phrase’s emergence and exploring the circumstances behind any adjustments in that means provides a window into the encompassing historic context, providing insights into the way it formed at this time’s broader discourse.
Furthermore, for etymology buffs who’ve discovered their pursuits captured, understanding the paths phrases have taken can encourage participation and engagement with issues of public coverage.
Some phrases emerged from, sparked, or formed important social actions, such because the time period “identification politics,” which was born of the Combahee River Collective. Some storied origins of phrases, equivalent to “faithless elector,” reveal the convoluted methods of politics.
In the meantime, phrases equivalent to “woke” have been demonstrably co-opted for causes that oppose their founding goal.
Some turns of phrase have lengthy histories; others, like “founding fathers,” are surprisingly current; and who knew “pink tape” went way back to the Holy Roman Empire?
Regardless of the variations within the phrases’ functions and origins, every phrase has served a significant function in shaping the political world. In gentle of the continued political dramas that unfold globally every day, our companions at Stacker traced the origins of 20 phrases and phrases utilized in political discourse utilizing historic archives, analysis experiences, and information articles.
The origins of 20 political phrases and phrases
Founding fathers
Whereas the time period “founding fathers” could seem to predate American politics, it was solely invoked for the primary time in 1916 by then-Sen. Warren G. Harding through the Republican Nationwide Conference of the identical 12 months. He repeated the phrase many occasions all through his political profession, sealing it into the better lexicon.
The time period stays largely undefined. For instance, one proposed criterion implies those that signed the Declaration of Independence, which leaves out George Washington and James Madison. In the meantime, John Adams himself rejected the designation outright, writing that the titles “founder” and “father” “belong to no man, however to the American folks typically.”
Gerrymander
A “gerrymander” occurs when redistricting a voting space favors a political occasion. Its origins got here from Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who was a framer — however not a signer — of the Structure. He additionally argued in opposition to electing congress members to the Home of Representatives instantly.
When Jeffersonian Republicans introduced him with a redrawn map for a Massachusetts district in 1812, which encompassed extra of their supporters, he signed the invoice supposedly with reluctance. Throughout a cocktail party held by opposing occasion members, illustrator Elkanah Tisdale added monster options to the district map.
On the identical time, poet Richard Alsop jokingly named his creation a “Gerry-mander.” At this time, the follow continues to supply amorphous districts — equivalent to Pennsylvania’s former Seventh Congressional District, nicknamed “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.”
Truthful-fight district
A “fair-fight district” outcomes when redistricting ends in a voting space that favors no political occasion. When the New York legislature reapportioned the state’s districts in 1982, it left the twenty second district with two incumbents approaching their election 12 months: one Democrat and one Republican.
The district comprised rural farmlands encompassing components of the Bronx, main commentators to call the citizens in dispute as a “fair-fight district,” printed in The New York Instances for the primary time on Nov. 1, 1982. Democrat Consultant Peter A. Peyser ended up shedding his seat to Republican Consultant Benjamin Arthur Gilman.
Faithless elector
A “faithless elector” is somebody within the Electoral School who votes in opposition to their occasion’s nominee.
The primary faithless elector, Samuel Miles, forged his 1796 presidential election vote for Thomas Jefferson in opposition to the desire of his John Adams-supporting constituency. Certainly one of his constituents aired his grievances to the American Gazette in a letter to the editor: “Do I chuse Samuel Miles to find out for me whether or not John Adams or Thomas Jefferson shall be President? No! I chuse him to behave, to not assume!”
As of 2020, 23,507 electoral votes have been forged in American presidential elections, 90 of which have been forged in opposition to the populace. Of these, 63 have been forged for the opposite nominee because of the loss of life of their opponent. In July 2020, the US Supreme Courtroom held in Chiafalo v. Washington that states are permitted to “penalize an elector for breaking his pledge and voting for somebody apart from the presidential candidate who received his State’s standard vote.”
Identification politics
Identification politics sometimes refers back to the efforts of a gaggle to rectify collective injustices suffered on account of shared private attributes, together with race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, or tradition.
The idea was born of the Combahee River Collective, established in 1974, which asserted that the continued feminist and civil rights actions didn’t adequately handle the issues of Black ladies and lesbians. The 1977 assertion issued by the group sparked tutorial and social exploration into the idea of intersectionality as nicely.
Purple tape
Purple tape refers to extreme or inflexible guidelines and processes that impede progress and decision-making, and there was a time when it was far more literal.
“Purple tape” emerged through the Holy Roman Empire of Spanish King Charles V within the sixteenth century. His authorities allegedly used pink ribbons to determine necessary paperwork, a follow carried out all through the colonization of America and past. Based on the Nationwide Archives, through the American Civil Battle, the Battle Division purchased 154 miles of pink tape within the fiscal 12 months ending in June 1864.
Woke
Woke refers to a state of being that’s attentive to social justice and civil rights issues.
Whereas likening consciousness of racial injustice to being “awake” predates the twentieth century, the phrase “keep woke” was usually utilized in Black communities as a reminder to be on one’s guard, particularly with regards to coping with regulation enforcement.
The earliest recognized use of the phrase started with Lead Stomach, a pioneering folks and blues musician. In his 1938 tune “Scottsboro Boys,” he recounts the true story of 9 Black youngsters who have been wrongfully convicted of a criminal offense for which they have been sentenced to loss of life. After the tune and on the finish of the recording, Lead Stomach warns: “I counsel everyone, be just a little cautious after they go alongside by means of Alabama — finest keep woke, preserve their eyes open.”
The identical time period that helped amplify the Civil Rights Motion in America has since been co-opted to censor its historical past by way of laws such because the Floridian “Cease W.O.Okay.E. Act,” which prohibits some matters on race relations throughout the state’s training system and workplaces.
Joe Six-Pack
A by-product — or arguably pejorative — model of John Q. Public, Joe Six-Pack was popularized by creator Martin F. Nolan to confer with working-class People. On this case, “six-pack” refers to a half-dozen cans or bottles of beer.
In a 1970 article overlaying a Massachusetts state senator election between Joe Moakley and Louise Day Hicks, he described one of many former’s campaigning methods as “shouting in Joe Six-Pack’s ear to get up and face the [unsimplistic] details of life.”
Lame duck
In politics, a lame duck sometimes refers to a politician who loses affect after election defeat till the inauguration of their successor. With much less accountability to the general public, they have a tendency to both accomplish little or no or push unpopular initiatives by means of on the final minute.
Although it is a political time period at this time, its use started in finance. The phrase originated across the 18th century, when British nobleman Horace Walpole referred to buyers who defaulted on their money owed.
“Lame duck” ultimately made it throughout the pond, the place it was used to explain temperance supporters who ultimately left the motion. It then crossed over to politics and was lastly utilized in a 1926 Grand Rapids Press editorial to explain how the result of senate elections might have an effect on Calvin Coolidge’s final years of presidency.
Darkish horse
In Nineteenth-century horse racing, “darkish horses” have been contestants bettors knew little or no about since they’d been skilled in secret or “at midnight.” The objective was to coach them so nicely that it led to a shock win and a maximized betting payoff. An early use of the time period got here from British novelist Benjamin Disraeli, who used the time period in its horse-racing context for his novel “The Younger Duke.”
By the 1840s, the phrase moved to the political realm to confer with an unknown candidate being nominated after a number of rounds. In 1844, Democratic politicians couldn’t agree on a candidate for the upcoming presidential election as they disagreed with Martin van Buren’s opposition to annexing Texas. On the ninth poll of the Democratic Nationwide Conference, they formally nominated “compromise candidate” James Okay. Polk, who defeated opponent Henry Clay within the election regardless of being lesser recognized.
Free cannon
Muzzle-loading cannons, as soon as extremely popular in naval artillery, weighed 1000’s of kilos, have been mounted on wheels, and within the occasion of strike or turbulence, might break freed from restraints and grow to be a “free cannon.”
Former President Theodore Roosevelt feared turning into an identical hazard given his youth relative to his predecessors and missing monitor report upon taking workplace following twenty fifth President William McKinley’s 1901 assassination. He supposedly expressed his concern to a journalist good friend about someday turning into “the outdated cannon free on the deck within the storm.”
Echo chamber
Bodily echo chambers date again to the twentieth century when recording studios have been modified to amplify echoes and reverberations. In a 1955 New York Instances article, reporter Elie Abel described the round, futile discussions between American and Chinese language ambassadors as “…an echo chamber for rumors, one usually contradicting the opposite.”
This marked the primary time the time period was used to explain a closed surroundings wherein members are uncovered solely to the identical biased viewpoints they already maintain, reinforcing their current beliefs and growing resistance to exterior views.
Gridlock
The time period gridlock, now usually used to explain political stalemate on account of a scarcity of consensus, has fairly literal origins. It was first used to explain the kind of site visitors congestion that emerges on account of a highway community that’s so crowded that nobody can transfer forward.
The time period was printed in a extra generalized political context within the Monetary Instances in 1983 about price range discussions: “The political ‘gridlock’ in Congress would possibly imply that no price range decision might be handed for fiscal 12 months of 1984.”
Tradition warfare
This broadly encompassing time period originates in 1871 and derives from the identify of the seven-year-long battle between the Catholic church and the federal government in Prussia: Kulturkampf. The battle resulted in tried assassinations of politicians, arrests of churchgoers, and riots.
College of Virginia sociologist and creator James Davison Hunter redefined “tradition wars” in his eponymous ebook “Tradition Wars: The Wrestle to Outline America” to explain the polarization of the American citizens primarily based on ideological worldviews.
Silent majority
The existence of a “silent majority” inside a rustic implies {that a} majority of the inhabitants doesn’t categorical their political views. The phrase was as soon as meant to confer with those that had already died, equivalent to when Justice John Marshall Harlan used it to confer with Civil Battle captains who had “way back handed over to the silent majority, leaving the reminiscence of their splendid braveness.”
Former President Richard Nixon secured the time period into the political lexicon, albeit with a distinct that means, along with his “Silent Majority” speech on Nov. 3, 1969, requesting help for the Vietnam Battle from “the good silent majority of my fellow People.”
Grassroots
In contrast to different fundraising or political efforts prioritizing members with essentially the most sources and affect, grassroots actions start from the native stage, or “roots,” working their means upward.
One of many first printed usages of the time period seems in a 1904 newspaper. In reference to the technique of potential operating mate Eli Torrance to incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, a political organizer is quoted as saying: “Roosevelt and Torrance golf equipment might be organized in each locality. We are going to start on the grass roots.”
Lobbyist
Ulysses S. Grant is broadly credited for coining the time period “lobbyist” to explain the individuals who bombarded him with legislative requests whereas he tried to calm down on the Willard Lodge throughout his 1869-1877 tenure.
Nonetheless, the time period originates in England and references the lobbies within the Home of Commons the place the general public is permitted to congregate and converse with representatives, based on former editor-at-large for the Oxford English Dictionary Jesse Sheidlower.
Blue states and pink states
In a very patriotic dispute, the follow of referring to Democratic and Republican strongholds as “blue states” and “pink states” begins with fireworks.
In 1900, the Chicago Tribune deliberate to gentle blue fireworks to suggest Republican wins and pink to suggest Democratic wins on an election night time.
A competing newspaper introduced plans to set off fireworks with the other colours in an try at sabotage — blue for Democrats and pink for Republicans — main the Tribune to desert their thought.
The phrases took on new life following the mass adoption of colour tv. Former host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert, is broadly credited with popularizing these two phrases, which might solidify the color-coding of American electoral maps.
Pundit
“Pundit” derives from the Hindi phrase “pandit,” that means a discovered or expert particular person. It entered the English lexicon within the seventeenth century to explain Indian court docket officers who served as advisors of Hindu regulation to English judges.
The trendy tackle the time period applies to many extra folks. Based on Dictionary.com, a “pundit” is solely any particular person “who makes feedback or judgments, particularly in an authoritative method.”
Canine whistle
A “canine whistle” is a refined name to motion or assertion that’s coded or in any other case obscured to attraction to supporters and keep away from detection by opponents. In fact, literal canine whistles predate the political utilization of the time period and confer with manufactured objects that produce a sound solely canines can hear. Throughout the civil rights interval, it turned a broader time period to explain secret alerts or languages meant to exclude others.
Based on the Oxford English Dictionary, its figurative type first appeared in an October 1995 version of The Ottawa Citizen: “On the lips of Premier Mike Harris, the time period ‘particular curiosity’ has the tone of epithet. It is an all-purpose canine whistle that these fed up with feminists, minorities, the undeserving poor hear loud and clear.”
This text was initially printed by Stacker and republished with permission below a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
