Dirty Tricks
On Language
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
New York Times
Vladimir Putin told a crowd of supporters recently that “Western specialists” were seeking a “disorganized and disoriented society” in Russia, so that those sneaky Americans “can carry out their dirty tricks behind its back.” The Russian phrase that the longtime cold warrior used, and Peter Finn of The Washington Post reported, was delishki, a Reuters translation that Finn informs me from Moscow is “a colloquialism with a negative connotation variously translated as dirty tricks or shady deals.”
The American phrase dirty tricks is now used most often in politics and is understood around the world. Before the first Southern primary last month, The Guardian in London recalled the smears that stymied Senator John McCain’s campaign eight years ago and at first reported that “South Carolina is living up to its reputation for dirty tricks.” This time, however, McCain quickly confronted what he called “scurrilous stuff” spread by “push polls” and “robo-calls,” and the alerted media helped nip the trickery in the bud; candidates of both parties now see how calling attention to sleazy calumniators can help a campaign. The modern trickery is supposedly guided by the ancient Latin advice, Fortiter calumniare, aliquid adhaerebit, roughly translated as “Sling plenty of mud and some will stick.” Ethical candidates have adopted Adlai Stevenson’s pseudo-Confucianism: “He who slings mud loses ground.”
Before that, leading up to the New Hampshire primary, the co-chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign in that state slyly brought up the subject of youthful drug use by her leading Democratic opponent, Barack Obama: “There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks it’s hard to overcome.” That prediction of a likely dirty trick by others was widely seen to be a dirty trick in itself; Senator Clinton promptly apologized to Senator Obama and her offending supporter had to resign.
(Continued here.)
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
New York Times
Vladimir Putin told a crowd of supporters recently that “Western specialists” were seeking a “disorganized and disoriented society” in Russia, so that those sneaky Americans “can carry out their dirty tricks behind its back.” The Russian phrase that the longtime cold warrior used, and Peter Finn of The Washington Post reported, was delishki, a Reuters translation that Finn informs me from Moscow is “a colloquialism with a negative connotation variously translated as dirty tricks or shady deals.”
The American phrase dirty tricks is now used most often in politics and is understood around the world. Before the first Southern primary last month, The Guardian in London recalled the smears that stymied Senator John McCain’s campaign eight years ago and at first reported that “South Carolina is living up to its reputation for dirty tricks.” This time, however, McCain quickly confronted what he called “scurrilous stuff” spread by “push polls” and “robo-calls,” and the alerted media helped nip the trickery in the bud; candidates of both parties now see how calling attention to sleazy calumniators can help a campaign. The modern trickery is supposedly guided by the ancient Latin advice, Fortiter calumniare, aliquid adhaerebit, roughly translated as “Sling plenty of mud and some will stick.” Ethical candidates have adopted Adlai Stevenson’s pseudo-Confucianism: “He who slings mud loses ground.”
Before that, leading up to the New Hampshire primary, the co-chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign in that state slyly brought up the subject of youthful drug use by her leading Democratic opponent, Barack Obama: “There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks it’s hard to overcome.” That prediction of a likely dirty trick by others was widely seen to be a dirty trick in itself; Senator Clinton promptly apologized to Senator Obama and her offending supporter had to resign.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home