Archive

7 US political terms to baffle Brits

2nd Nov 2020

The United States holds its presidential election on November 3rd after a long and sometimes rancorous campaign. While observers in Europe will have become accustomed by now to some of the terminology of the American political scene, with its caucuses, conventions, superdelegates, and running mates, some more arcane American political… Read More

From ‘mugwump’, ‘Mayism’ and ‘gerrymandering’ – 15 election words you should know about

7th Jun 2017

Do you know your filibuster from your flugie? As the 2017 General Election campaign comes to a close, we take a look at some of our favourite political words and phrases from this year’s campaign and from those that came before. Read More

Lucy Mangan takes a look at some election buzzwords and their meaning

7th Jun 2017

Every election yields its share of bafflegab – intentionally confusing jargon – along, of course, with all the gab that is not necessarily intended to baffle but somehow manages to do so anyway. This election has been no different. As the nation prepares to… Read More

‘Election narrative’, ‘Pepsi’, and ‘Unicorn Frappuccino’: April’s Words in the News

3rd May 2017

Unless you’ve been living in a cave underground (and by now you probably wish you were, right?) you’re aware that Theresa May has called a snap general election, to be held on 8 June. That’s this year. Elections are usually a good source of new words, and this one has… Read More

We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘election’ in the run-up to the UK General Election in June

25th Apr 2017

The words elect and election have their origins in two Latin words: ‘e’ meaning ‘out of’, and ‘lectus’ meaning ‘chosen’. So the successful candidates in Britain’s general election in June will be literally ‘chosen out of’ the people who stand for parliament. This derivation… Read More

Etymology Corner – Election ‘Candidates’

1st May 2015

With a general election occurring in Britain on May 7, there is no shortage of candidates seeking votes. The history of the word ‘candidate’ goes back to ancient Rome, where people who stood for political office would wear specially whitened togas while campaigning. These men came to be… Read More

‘Ecofiscal’, ‘Scotiaphobia’ and ‘Disguss’ – Lucy Mangan casts her vote for your election words

23rd Apr 2015

Aha! I see that it has not gone unnoticed amongst our ever-observant readers and contributors that there is a little something I like to call a general election afoot, and you have been submitting your terms according. Beardyfox has provided us – perhaps optimistically, perhaps a little plaintively?… Read More