Grant explains the meaning of the new slang term “far center,” and Martha tries to revive an antiquated term meaning “a corrupt politician,” snollygoster. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Far Center”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
And I’m Grant Barrett.
One of the curiosities of American politics is that even though there’s much talk about how bipartisanship is a good idea and how divisiveness doesn’t get anything done in Washington, there’s also an attitude that a centrist is just somebody who doesn’t have a strong conviction and who can’t be trusted.
That idea is perfectly crystallized in the expression far center. Far center is a political position in which a politician is so committed to compromise that they please no one. It’s a radical compromiser.
That’s great. I never heard that. Far center.
Yeah, it’s somebody who is, they’re not in the far right. They’re not the radical conservatives and they’re not in the far left. They’re not the radical liberals. There’s somebody who is kind of alone right out there in the middle because they’re making nobody happy.
I have an older political term for you. This one comes from the mid-19th century, which was a time of great linguistic inventiveness, as you know. And it’s snollygoster. I just love this word, snollygoster, S-N-O-L-L-Y-G-O-S-T-E-R. It means a corrupt politician. It’s a term that got revived last year in Britain when one politician called the other, his opponent, a snollygoster. And I just love that for corrupt politician.
We’re not sure of the derivation of it, but it may come from an old word for a kind of evil spirit that preys on chickens and small children. Snollygoster.
Well, if you’d like to talk about new language or old words and phrases, grammar and slang, old family sayings or whatever, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
