Safire's Political DictionaryWhen it comes to the vagaries of language in American politics, its uses and abuses, its absurdities and ever-shifting nuances, its power to confound, obscure, and occasionally to inspire, William Safire is the language maven we most readily turn to for clarity, guidance, and penetrating, sometimes lacerating, wit. Safire's Political Dictionary is a stem-to-stern updating and expansion of the Language of Politics, which was first published in 1968 and last revised in 1993, long before such terms as Hanging Chads, 9/11 and the War on Terror became part of our everyday vocabulary. Nearly every entry in that renowned work has been revised and updated and scores of completely new entries have been added to produce an indispensable guide to the political language being used and abused in America today. Safire's definitions--discursive, historically aware, and often anecdotal--bring a savvy perspective to our colorful political lingo. Indeed, a Safire definition often reads like a mini-essay in political history, and readers will come away not only with a fuller understanding of particular words but also a richer knowledge of how politics works, and fails to work, in America. From Axis of Evil, Blame Game, Bridge to Nowhere, Triangulation, and Compassionate Conservatism to Islamofascism, Netroots, Earmark, Wingnuts and Moonbats, Slam Dunk, Doughnut Hole, and many others, this language maven explains the origin of each term, how and by whom and for what purposes it has been used or twisted, as well as its perceived and real significance. For anyone who wants to cut through the verbal haze that surrounds so much of American political discourse, Safire's Political Dictionary offers a work of scholarship, wit, insiderhood and resolute bipartisanship. |
From inside the book
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Page xiii
... word will triumph over governmental obstacles. Its coiner was neither famous nor had an important national forum: his word grew slowly and inexorably until it could not be stopped. So did the mouth-filling infrastructure, despite ...
... word will triumph over governmental obstacles. Its coiner was neither famous nor had an important national forum: his word grew slowly and inexorably until it could not be stopped. So did the mouth-filling infrastructure, despite ...
Page 7
... word that once meant “an explicator of God's word” but now denoting “a slavish mouthpiece”; a spokesman, Activist as a noun, with its current mean- ing, was set forth in 1954 by Arthur Koestler, in Invisible Writing: “He was not a ...
... word that once meant “an explicator of God's word” but now denoting “a slavish mouthpiece”; a spokesman, Activist as a noun, with its current mean- ing, was set forth in 1954 by Arthur Koestler, in Invisible Writing: “He was not a ...
Page 12
... word now has an old-fash- ioned flavor, it has been embraced in the blogosphere, where it has found an emi- nent new domain in the titles of websites and blogs. sounds an alarm for defeatist purposes The word has an international ...
... word now has an old-fash- ioned flavor, it has been embraced in the blogosphere, where it has found an emi- nent new domain in the titles of websites and blogs. sounds an alarm for defeatist purposes The word has an international ...
Page 17
... word stresses the youth of the troops, thereby seeking to increase the public's desire to protect them from bloody warfare. The word is so obviously loaded, however, that there was a tendency toward the end of the twentieth century to ...
... word stresses the youth of the troops, thereby seeking to increase the public's desire to protect them from bloody warfare. The word is so obviously loaded, however, that there was a tendency toward the end of the twentieth century to ...
Page 18
... word Scotticism. H. L. Mencken, in The American Language, a classic of etymology and word study first published in 1919, wrote: “The first American colonists had perforce to invent Americanisms, if only to describe the unfamiliar ...
... word Scotticism. H. L. Mencken, in The American Language, a classic of etymology and word study first published in 1919, wrote: “The first American colonists had perforce to invent Americanisms, if only to describe the unfamiliar ...
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Common terms and phrases
action Administration aide American appeared applied asked attack became become began bill Bush called campaign candidate century charge City civil columnist Communist Congress conservative convention criticism deal defense Democratic described early economic Eisenhower election expression forces foreign former George give Governor head House idea included interest issue John Johnson Kennedy known later leader liberal major meaning ment metaphor military never Nixon nomination noted original party peace person phrase play political politicians popular position Post President presidential referred reported Republican Robert Roosevelt rule Secretary Senator sense speech talk term thing tion told took turn United usage usually Vice vote voters Washington White House word writer wrote York