#889 Vote-cabulary 2

There was more vocabulary that emerged from the voting process. The vote-cabulary if you will.
“Eloquent” was one of the big words used to describe Obama. It was used in both a good way, to talk about his nicely delivered speeches, and as a bad term, when put in air-quotes, to dismiss him as filled with hot air.
Balancing the new big words was a return to salt of the earth words like “you betcha” and “gotcha.” I’ve said “you betcha” for more years than I can remember. Now I’m self-conscious about it. Every time I hear myself say it, I think other people will think I’m making fun of or emulating Palin.
Another good colloquialism down the drain, dagnamit.
“Gotcha” was used to refer to journalism that snuck up on people’s blind sides. Or Joe-the-plumbers that rotorootered candidate meet-and-greets.
We also heard the words “cratered” and “tanked.” The economy “cratered” and McCain’s campaign “tanked.” On the flip side, the media was “in the tank” for Obama—who then helped “tank” McCain’s campaign further.
But never fear, because then there was “maverick,” a term probable chosen for its resonance with a TV show about go-it-alone self-reliant westerners. You know, “real” Americans.
Unfortunately, it was also a cheap Ford.
Personally, I had a Maverick in the 70s and it wasn’t that good a car—in the shop for one thing or another. And the steering and suspension were weird. I was always going all over the road.
Then the mavericks changed. One of them got tired of calling himself a maverick. Maybe one of his supporters told him they had owned one too. In any event, he suddenly became a “reformer.” The other one got called by a new word, as she went “rogue.” The downside of mavericks—turning rogue.
Isn’t that like a double negative though? Since a maverick’s already contrary, is a rogue maverick just back to normal?
If the description hadn’t first emerged from the Republican camp I’d suspect the liberal media of concocting it to make sly reference to the party’s symbol. Because before this, I’d only heard the term rogue applied to elephants.
And as the recent economy has shown, there’s nothing worse than an unrestrained elephant.
America, ya gotta love it.