MAREE’S MUSINGS
Party Lines
By Maree Roy
It’s coming up to election time again. To me, it doesn’t seem long since the last one.
We’re being treated to the usual electioneering fever and all it entails: endless rounds of speechmaking, interviews, polls and so on, plus the [definitely] odd slanging match.
With the fast pace of modern life, short and snappy slogans are all the rage. My google-delving of the word slogan revealed it comes from the 16th century Gaelic “sluagh-ghairm,” literally a warcry. Says it all, really! Party lines, basically slogans in sheep’s clothing, are trotted out with an interesting and occasionally bizarre selection of these catchphrases.
The expression trotting out was first used in 1838 in reference to flash horses being put through their paces. Just seven years later it became slang for ‘produce and display for admiration’ – in other words, showing off combined with a dose of horse shit. Quite!
Hoardings and billboards, designed to let us know what the main party lines are, have been popping up like last month’s rabbits. Billboards are just noticeboards for displaying information (a bill being an alternative word for a notice), but I puzzled over hoardings. Back in history, a hourd was another name for a hyrdel: a frame used as a temporary barrier or fence, just like the modern day version: hurdle.
So it’s nothing to do with obsessive collecting which is probably a relief. Both require an eye-catching photo crying out for the usual defacing, and a slogan (ditto). … Continue Reading
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