dog whistle politics
n.— «A simple statement such as “I don’t like political correctness” might not sound too threatening but there are some who hear something quite different, such as “It’s okay to be racist.” When the politician who used the original words is challenged for inciting racism, he or she is able to say, “No, all I said was I’m against political correctness, what’s wrong with that?” A number of people last week hotly disputed that wedge and dog-whistle politics are played in Australia. Don’t believe them. That’s just spin.» —“Driving a wedge to win” by Dennis Atkins Courier Mail (Brisbane, Australia) Apr. 10, 2000. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...