Politics Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Politics

Politics, courts, elections, voting, legislation, legislatures, campaigns, activism, partisanship, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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Vitalyation n. Churkin’s angry reactions to diplomatic affronts have become so common that some U.N. diplomats have invented a word to describe it: Vitalyation (rhymes with “retaliation”). But the former Soviet official has parlayed Russian outrage into tactical diplomatic victories. [English Politics New or Nonce] [full cite] (Dec. 29, 2006)

voodoo poll n. “Voodoo polls” is a term coined by Sir Bob Worcester to refer to phone-in, click-on or “press-the-red-button” polls, the sort of thing you see on Sky News, the AOL homepage or in the tabloid press. These polls have no statistical validity whatsover, they do not attempt to be representative of the population, they are entirely self-selecting and they are spectacularly easy to fix by getting partisan supporters to repeatedly ring them. No one should mistake them for a worthwhile indication of public opinion. [English Politics] [full cite] (Feb. 27, 2005)

voodoo poll n. To test the system, I rang nine times in the two minutes given to register a “yes” vote (although I would not normally participate in such a “voodoo” poll). [English Politics] [full cite] (Feb. 28, 2005)

vote (someone) v. In Dougherty’s case, authorities allege, the candidate took it a step further by also assisting the voters in casting their ballots. Many people told a state police investigator that they “were voted” by the candidate. “It’s a new phrase that I am still trying to find a definition for—‘He voted me,’” Branscom said. [English Politics] [full cite] (Aug. 3, 2005)

vote hauling n. “Vote hauling,” as it is known and widely practiced, has long been acknowledged as a way to influence elections. But paying vote haulers is not illegal in Kentucky.… The indictment alleges Turner and his coconspirators funneled money from Harris through straw contributors and illegally paid people to vote and hid it by claiming to pay them for driving voters to the polls during the 2000 Democratic primary. [English Crime & Prisons Politics] [full cite] (May. 8, 2005)

voter-owned adj. On Thursday of this week, the “clean elections” program passed by Portland City Council will be implemented. Now known somewhat euphemistically as “voter-owned,” the proposal to front candidates financially if they agreed to spending ceilings and a ban on private contributions over $5 passed 4-1 in May. [English Politics] [full cite] (Sep. 10, 2005)

voter-owned election n. The qualifying contributions mandate is a provision that is traditionally part of voter-owned elections, another name for publicly financed elections. [English Politics] [full cite] (Apr. 21, 2008)

voting tourism n. The major problem concerns the thousands of Turks with Bulgarian citizenship who live or work in Turkey and have a double citizenship. Some refer to the phenomenon as “voting tourism” because of the buses from Turkey, of which the media often report during elections, and which carry “passengers” to the polling stations in Bulgaria. [English Politics] [full cite] (Feb. 22, 2007)

walk-around bill n. A “walk-around bill” is a term used to describe a piece of legislation sponsored by a senator or representative very late in the session, often to duck a contentious debate. Instead of filing those bills early in the session so they can be referred to committees for public hearings, lawmakers who want them passed literally walk them through their respective chambers gathering enough co-sponsors to ensure passage. [English Politics] [full cite] (Jul. 5, 2006)

walking subcaucus n. But the most serious business of the night for the political parties was just coming—selecting the delegates. This is where issues and senate preference come into play. During the past weeks, each of the major Democratic senate candidates had recruited precinct members to act as leaders during the caucuses, to round up support trying to garner the most delegates. This process is called the “walking subcaucus.” [Minnesota English Politics Jargon] [full cite] (Feb. 9, 2008)

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