Glimpse of Yesteryear
The actual election is over and done, but this is still a time in what could be called The Election Cycle, when…
The actual election is over and done, but this is still a time in what could be called The Election Cycle, when we hear quite a few specialized words and expressions having to do with politics.
In fact, since early Geauga, the time between the election and the inauguration has been nearly as full of political verbage as the time running up to the election.
Take, for example, the term Lame Duck which was mentioned in political-speak in 1761.
People of that time were even more in tune with nature than now-a-days. They knew that when wild ducks are in flight together, their heads are outstretched in front and their legs outstretched in back. A lame ducks flight characteristics were such that it could not keep up with the flock.
At first, the term Lame Duck was used to describe a member of the British Stock Exchange who couldnt meet his liabilities and was struck off the list of members. Over time, this term came to be used in reference to members of Congress who fail to become reelected.
Considering that, in this last election cycle, 21 of 22 incumbent senators were reelected, and 353 of 373 incumbent members of the House were reelected, the American people reelected 94 percent of the incumbents who were running for reelection (this, to an institution that has an approval rating of about 9 percent). So, we have few Lame Ducks right now.
In elections, of course, we have winners and losers some of whom are referred to as Also Rans. This is another saying absolutely clear to people in the 1800s … it came from the horse racing world. Sports sections of the newspapers of the time referred to horses that finished the race well behind those in Win, Place and Show as Also Rans.
By the late 1800s, the term became commonly attached to non-winners in elections.
As you know, sometimes members of a political party become so focused on winning that underhanded tactics are used. So it has been as long as people were people.
In 1812, a term was coined to name one type of election outcome fixing. It seems that the governor of Massachusetts, Eldridge Gerry, a Democrat, wanted to ensure a larger majority of his party in the state senate. He came up with the idea of redrawing the election district lines so that the Federalist minority would have a greatly decreased chance of carrying the election in most districts. As a result, one of the districts in Essex County was formed with a very irregular outline.
Benjamin Russell, editor of the newspaper Columbian Centinel, hung a map of the new districts in his office. This map was noticed by Gilbert Stuart, an artist, who added a head, wings and claws to that map. It is said that Mr. Stuart exclaimed, That will do for a salamander. Mr. Russell is said to have replied, No, for a Gerrymander. So, since the mid-1800s, it has been common to refer to redistribution of a state to get the maximum possible representation for one party at the expense of another as gerrymandering.
Well, after the election comes the swearing in of those who will hold office. The word for this is Inaugurate. Although this term can be used for the swearing in of any elected federal official, now-a-days, it is most commonly used to refer to the swearing in of a very high official such as the president.
The term is from the Latin inaugurate, which means to take omens from the flight of birds. It entered common use for installing a person in the office he was elected to by the late 1500s.
So, although no one consulted the birds, early Geaugans used the term inaugurate for swearing in elected officials.
For information on the events at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Century Village Museum, call 440-834-1492 or visit www.geaugahistorical.org.
