"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." -Rumi

Let us have some word fun then!  The book presented here contains a hodgepodge of jargon founded and forged inside the Beltway of our country.  Its unique terminology is called American political slang.

It is with great pleasure and surely no offense that I introduce to you The Oxford dictionary of American political slang, (UW NetID required) Oxford University Press (2004).  A print version of this title is available via Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

You can start almost anywhere you fancy.  However, fancy has yet to find its way into the atlas of American political slang.

How about Fudge Factory n. "the U.S. Department of State."  1986 Former U.S. Asst. Secretary of State B. Kalb, (public lecture, Knoxville, Tenn.): The building that is known everywhere affectionately as the Fudge Factory.  See also Foggy Bottom.  Fun fact: the use of the name "Foggy Bottom" for the headquarters of the U.S. Department of State is a figure of speech known as a metonymy.

Then there is the turkey farm n. "a department or agency staffed with political and patronage hirees; (broadly) an underperforming office."  1978 Washington Post (Oct. 19) "We don't plan to detail people to Alaska, or create 'turkey farms'" where government incompetents are often kept out of harm's way, but still on the payroll.

I know we used to say, "You turkey!" when I was in high school.  Before there were turkeys, though, threre were hippies!  Goldstein 1966: "Ah, the Harvard hippie.  I knew him well.  Ready to prove that Kennedy and Dostoevsky and Holden Caulfield have not lived in vain.  He defies his parents by sleeping with his girl friend, his neighbors by letting his hair grow, and his university by smoking pot."

Here's one that still rings true today: amen corner n. "[suggested by congregants at the front of a church who call out in response to the preacher] any group of (politicians) which gives unwavering support."  Also amen seat.

In another era, an election may have been called a beauty contest n. "Cattle Show."  1959 Stevens Point Daily Journal (Wisc.) (Dec. 8): The Democrats held a big, four-hour "beauty contest" of 1960 presidential possibilities Monday night.

Which can only mean one thing: "Where's the Beef?" 1984 Wendy's TV advertising campaign.

The next edition of American political slang will surely include the 2024 campaign newspeak of brat, coconut, and weird.

Note the The Oxford Dictionary of American political slang is by no means the only game in town.  For all you wordsmiths, feast your eyes on the Dicttionary of American regional English (UW NetID required).  It's bigly fun!

Now, if I may, let me leave you with these final thoughts from Stanley McChrystal, retired U.S. Army general:

"The American revolutionary Thomas Paine is said to have written, 'Reputation is what men and women think of us, character is what God and angels know of us.'  Regardless of what a person says, character is ultimately laid bare in his or her actions.  So I pay attention to what a leader does."

Submitted by Eric Taylor, Evening Reference Librarian on October 29, 2024

This article appears in the categories: Law Library