I want to thank again all the loyal readers whose outpouring of interest and words of kindness have made The Dictionary of Republicanisms such a rewarding experience. All of us must continue to fight to reclaim our political discourse, so we can reclaim our politics.
In my last post, I suggested that readers might want to organize house/book parties to work on submissions for a sequel to The Dictionary of Republicanisms, or simply to take a moment for a little levity in this period of right-wing darkness. And that is exactly what you have done.
We’ve heard from several of you who have hosted parties and we’ve been inundated with sharp, funny new submissions. I have included some of my favorites below. Please keep it up. Each one brightens our work at the magazine and portends the dawning of a new America. If we receive enough new definitions, we may gather them in a follow-up book. If you want to submit a definition, just click here.
ARABIAN HORSE ASSOCIATION, n. Homeland security training camp [Bill Schwartz].
BEACH FRONT PROPERTY, n. Place to drill for oil [Quentin Blanchette, St. Louis, MO].
BROWNIE, n. 1) That stinky stuff stuck on Bush’s boot [Paul Trepes]. 2) Piece of feces, which clogged federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina [Lucy Stephens, San Diego, CA].
CORPOCRACY, n. The form of democratic government practiced in the United States [Tom Sutter, Madison, WI].
ENTANGLEMENT, n. Power breakfasts at expensive hotels [Matthew Polly, Topeka, KS].
FEDERAL INDICTMENT, n. Criminalizing politics [Kirby Records, Los Angeles, CA].
GOP BASE, n. The haves and the have-a-lots [Thomas Hartley, Rosendale, NY].
HARRIET MIERED, v. 1) To flip-flop [Lucy Stephens, San Diego, CA]. 2) To be Borked by one’s own allies [Matthew Polly, Topeka, KS].
HECK OF A JOB, n. President Bush’s favorite compliment, see FUBAR [Bill Schwartz, Buffalo, NY].
PANDEMIC, n. Nature’s system of population management [Bill Schwartz, Dayton, OH].
PAT ROBERTSON, pr. n., Pandemic foot-in-mouth disease [Stephen Weinstein, Pulaski, NM].
POLITICS, n. The continuation of war by any means [Martin Richard, Belgrade, MT].
REVISIONISM, n. Republican revival of Soviet era epithet [John Llewellyn, Elizabeth, NJ].
RESPECTING THE FLAG, slang. Not letting it be shown draping caskets [Neil Hoey, Missoula, MT].
SCOOTER n., Mode of transportation used to dodge indictment/impeachment [Menno Eelkema, New York, NY].
SELF-DETERMINATION, n. Right of Iraqis to select a government acceptable to us [Matthew Cross, Tulsa, OK].
STAY THE COURSE, n. Stuck between Iraq and a hard place [Joshua Vizer, San Francisco, CA].
SUPPORT THE TROOPS, slang. Outsource, to favored corporations, using no-bid contracts, what earlier generations of troopes hated, namely, KP, guard and latrine duty, and policing the perimeter, in order to facilitate maximum troop exposure to the enemy and enhance corporate profits [John Llewellyn, New York, NY].
SWIFT BOAT, v. To undermine someone’s record with falsehoods [Larry Andriks, Eugene, OR].
TED STEVENS, n. Bridge to nowhere [Stephen Weinstein, San Diego, CA].
TEXAS HOLD ‘EM, n. Federal government jobs fair [Michael Joyce, Austin, TX].
TORTURE, n. X-Treme research [Matthew Polly, Topeka, KS].
WMD, acronym. We Meant Democracy [Todd Andresen, St. Louis, MO].
