British election a linguist's minefield

[Amelia]

British election a linguist's minefield

Thursday, April 28, 2005

ABC News Online

After using "dog whistle" policies and even "playing dead", the main United Kingdom Opposition party is hoping to score a "back-door victory".

Britain's current election campaign might be predictable in many ways but for connoisseurs of the ever-evolving lexicon of politics, it is the richest of feasts.

The run-up to the May 5 vote has been notable for the freshness of its electioneering tactics, experts say, partly because of the lack of new policies being proposed as Prime Minister Tony Blair seeks a third term.

Many of the new phrases have originated from the main opposition Conservative Party, whose Australian strategist Lynton Crosby has imported techniques honed in his former role advising Prime Minister John Howard.

Among these is the notion of "dog-whistle politics", hardline proposals designed to catch the attention of staunch party supporters while attracting little notice of other voters, much like a high-pitched dog whistle cannot be heard by humans.

The Conservatives' tough statements on mass immigration and gypsy communities have been seen as classic examples of this.

Still more fiendish is the strategy of "playing dead", again supposedly being employed by the Conservatives.

According to a series of experts, Conservative leader Michael Howard has avoided saying directly in recent days that his party can defeat Blair's Labour Party, the current clear favourites.

By creating an atmosphere in which a Labour landslide is presumed, the theory goes, many Labour supporters will stay at home or lodge a protest vote against Mr Blair, perhaps allowing the Conservatives to sneak a narrow win, the infamous "back-door victory".

However, the Conservatives are on the receiving end of another even more sinister-sounding piece of new jargon: "decapitation".

This is the brainchild of the Liberal Democrats, who hope Labour supporters can be persuaded to back their candidates in a small number of seats where senior Conservatives are vulnerable.

Susie Dent, the author of The Language Report, an annual review of English use, says military vocabulary has proved quite useful in the campaign.

She has spotted the use of "tax bombshells" and "ground war tactics" in the rhetorical battlefield.

Guy Cook from the faculty of language and education at Britain's Open University says phrases such as "playing dead" are what is known as "linguistic innovation", the adaptation of language in innovative ways to create new terms.

Mr Cook says such word-mangling was most prevalent in public relations, where pseudo-terms such as "knowledge-based" and "hub" are increasingly prevalent.

"'Playing dead' is a lovely example," Mr Cook said.

"That's exactly the sort of metaphor that catches on in contemporary communications."

Another technique which has slipped into British politics is "conversationalisation", a linguistic term meaning informal, chatty vernacular used to mask sophisticated sales pitches.

One example is a Conservative poster targeting supposed Government failings on health services, using the slogan: "I mean, how hard is it to keep a hospital clean?"

The party's main campaign slogan is also deceptively casual: "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"

"It's kind of wrong-footing people. It gives this impression of intimacy and friendship, but actually it's extremely carefully thought out and manipulative," Mr Cook said.

It can also backfire. Susie Dent recalled how the slogan has been "endlessly caricatured", even by Blair himself, who could not help saying: "Are you remembering what I'm remembering?"

The satirical Private Eye magazine went one step further. With the Conservatives stuck in second place in the opinion polls, it suggested a new line: "Are you sinking like we're sinking?"

Yet another feature of the campaign has been the so-called "hooray word", a positive, uplifting term deployed in such vague ways that no one could possibly disagree with it.

Labour is fond of these, peppering its 2005 manifesto with platitudes such as "prosperity for all" and "strong and safe communities", as well as its oddly verbless slogan: "Britain forward not back".

"This election has been criticised for its banality and for the politicians' failure to ignite public interest," Ms Dent said.

"But linguistically, it has been quite productive."

- AFP

[David_McQueen]

Ah the joy of the British vernacular.

Roll on Thursday?

[Neil D]

What does "Roll on Thursday" mean????

x = election day can't get here fast enough???