Examples of Political Jargon
These days, a lot of politicians are beating around the bush when it comes to speaking their mind about important issues, and most of us hear examples of political jargon any time we turn on the news. The fact is, it is really easy to incorporate political jargon into a politician’s speech, and most of the time, we assume the meanings of this jargon even when it is supposed to mean something else in a political context. By using all of this jargon in their everyday discussions, people are able to talk about political issues in a quicker, coded way. Keep reading to look through some examples of political jargon, to shed light on their meanings, and to learn about more resources for understanding examples of political jargon.
What Is Political Jargon?
Many politicians like to use other phrases to categorize themselves and others. For example, a “birther” is someone who doubts the ability for President Obama to be in office because his birth certificate could potentially not be valid. Another phrase of political jargon, “undocumented workers,” usually refers to illegal immigrants. Most of these phrases become terms used in popular culture as well, as political issues spill over into more personal issues in the everyday lives of people.
The list of political jargon terms continues infinitely: new ones are being coined by political figures every day. The way to tell if something is a part of political jargon is to question whether the phrase or term really means what it sounds like, or if there is an added connotation that comes as a subtext for the word.
Examples of Political Jargon
Many politicians use political jargon for the express purpose of covering their mistakes over time. Here are some examples of political jargon, and what their words really mean:
- Left-Wing: a politician or citizen who is more liberal than the average person. Typically, this is someone who is for socialized medicine, for gay rights, and pro-choice, among many other issues.
- Right-Wing: a politician or citizen who is more conservative than the average person. This typically means someone who is looking for lowered taxes, especially on the upper class, for decentralization of government, and someone who shoots down gay rights issues with discussion of “family values.”
More important examples of political jargon include the phenomenon of politically correct terms. When it comes down to it, “differently-abled” or “differently-sized” are no more polite than disabled or overweight, respectively, even though the terms are meant to be euphemistic and more respectable than words that have been used in the past. Politicians take advantage of these words to seem more polite and composed, and yet often the connotations are still as offensive as using the regular term.
Dictionaries and Glossaries of Political Jargon Online
There are several popular websites out there that focus on political jargon and how it changes over time. Here are just a few to get your interest peaked in this subject:
- The Jargon Database is very comprehensive, even breaking down jargon by political party. You can search for words, or just look over lists of words by political party category.
- This slightly sardonic collection of words at Hub Pages.com are examples of political jargon are explained in the author’s commentary.
Why Political Jargon?
The best way to gain exposure to political jargon is to go online and read the daily news, or to go online and see for yourself what is going on in the world of politics. Read speeches, and watch them live on TV: try to separate opinion from fact, and notice how the use of jargon taints the validity of an argument.
For more political jargon examples, simply look through your local newspaper, and see how people are talking about politics: chances are, they are using lots of political jargon to talk around the basic truths of what they believe.