Speaking Politics phrase of the week: 'dead-cat bounce'
The phrase, suitably festive for Halloween, has gained currency in political circles to explain polling blips that don't mean anything.
Hillary Clinton might have been hoping for a dead-cat bounce in the South.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Dead-cat bounce:聽An all-too-vivid description of a brief recovery in otherwise declining poll ratings.
鈥淒ead-cat bounce鈥� is a common phrase in the investment industry; in conjunction with Halloween, Business Insider and other publications as a 鈥渟pooky鈥� financial word.
鈥淲hen a black cat crosses your path, it might mean bad luck,鈥� wrote Alice Gomstyn of The Alert Investor. 鈥淏ut when a dead-cat bounce is before you, it might mean something good, albeit very fleeting: a temporary rise in share prices.鈥�
Merriam-Webster from 1985 and says it is drawn 鈥渇rom the facetious notion that even a dead cat would bounce slightly from a sufficient height.鈥� British lexicographer Susie Dent, in a new book, as particularly popular slang in UK banking circles.
But it鈥檚 also come up for years in connection with US elections. Earlier this month, The New York Times鈥檚 Nate Cohn looked at Hillary Clinton鈥檚 low support among white voters in Georgia and Louisiana: 鈥淣o 'dead cat bounce' among Deep South whites,鈥� Mr. Cohn said on Twitter.
Back in July, Daily Kos writer 鈥淥bama Amabo鈥� that the GOP convention would help Donald Trump: 鈥淎in鈥檛 gonna happen! In fact, it鈥檚 not even going to be the proverbial dead-cat bounce.鈥澛�
And a year earlier, Forbes contributor Aaron Kwittken 聽Mr. Trump鈥檚 overall chances. 鈥淚 think all of his recent traction is really just media hype around a cultural icon and will turn out to be a 鈥榙ead-cat bounce鈥� for him 鈥� a short recovery followed by a downward trend, or spiral is what I predict in Trump鈥檚 case,鈥� Mr. Kwittken wrote, advancing what was a at that time.
In 1972, George McGovern鈥檚 miserable Democratic National Convention 鈥� when internal convention-organizing problems to give his acceptance speech around 3 a.m. on East Coast time 鈥� 鈥渘etted him a dead-cat bounce,鈥� University of Virginia analysts Larry Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley.聽
Sarah Palin as a dead-cat bounce candidate: She gave GOP nominee John McCain a brief shot of political adrenaline in 2008, but didn鈥檛 help him in the end.聽
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 now out.