Political phrase of the week: 'On the hustings'
On the hustings: An age-old synonym for the campaign trail, often deployed because it sounds more colorful than 鈥渃ampaign trail.鈥�
The origin of 鈥渉ustings鈥� differs from its current use, Howard Richler, a Canadian language columnist and author of the 鈥淲ordplay: Arranged & Deranged Wit.鈥�
鈥淎s early as the 11th century, it was rendered singular as 鈥榟usting,鈥� which literally means 鈥榟ouse thing,鈥� with 鈥榯hing鈥� referring to a council meeting,鈥� Mr. Richler wrote. 鈥淥ver time, it referred specifically to the court of law in the Guildhall of London. It was only in the 20th century that it acquired the modern sense of electioneering.鈥�
It remains common in Canada as well as the United Kingdom, where it also came to mean the physical stage on which candidates were nominated and addressed voters. 鈥淚t sounds a bit onomatopoeic, with the rival candidates standing on a platform and husting angrily at each other,鈥� the BBC last year. 听
In the United States, its usage , according to Google鈥檚 Ngram Viewer. But it still surfaces quite a bit. Huffington Post鈥檚 Chris Weigant last month that Bernie Sanders 鈥渉ad a good week on the hustings, pulling in a whopping 27,000 people to a rally in [New York鈥檚] Washington Square Park, and chalking up his first Senate endorsement to boot.鈥� Humorist Garrison Keillor in a column that the independent democratic socialist-turned-Democrat 鈥渋s having the time of his life on the hustings, a teen idol at last.鈥�
Meanwhile, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), who just dropped out, will run again: 鈥淗e鈥檚 young, he鈥檚 indefatigable, and he can claim 鈥� and will claim, on the 2020 hustings 鈥� that True Conservatism has as yet been left untried.鈥�
And Donald Norris, director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 听The Baltimore Sun that GOP Gov. Larry Hogan鈥檚 failure to advance much of his agenda in the face of Democratic opposition won鈥檛 hurt him politically.
鈥淗e can still go on the hustings and tell his base he fought the good fight but the evil Democrats did it again,鈥� Mr. Norris said.
Chuck McCutcheon writes his 鈥淪peaking Politics鈥� blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥� is
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