Mark Forsyth: What's a snollygoster? A short lesson in political speak

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Translator: Andreas Strøjer Tynan Schmidt Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

One of my favorite words in the whole of the Oxford English Dictionary

Et af mine favoritord af alle fra

Oxfords Engelskordbog er "snollygoster."

is "snollygoster,"

just because it sounds so good.

Bare fordi det lyder så godt.

Og hvad snollygoster betyder er

And what snollygoster means is "a dishonest politician."

"en uærlig politiker."

Although there was a 19th-century newspaper editor

Selvom der i det 19. århundrede

var en avisredaktør, som definerede det endnu bedre da han sagde,

who defined it rather better when he said,

"A snollygoster is a fellow who seeks office

"En snollygoster er en fyr som søger kontor

regardless of party, platform or principle,

uanset parti, platform eller princip,

og som, når han vinder,

and who, when he wins,

gets there by the sheer force of monumental talknophical assumnancy."

opnår det med ren styrke

fra monumental, indholdsløs overtalelsesretorik."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, I have no idea what "talknophical" is.

Jeg har ingen idé hvad "overtalelsesretorik" er.

Something to do with words, I assume.

Noget der har noget at gøre med ord, formoder jeg.

Men det er meget vigtigt at ord er i centrum af politik,

But it's very important that words are at the center of politics,

og alle politikere ved at de bliver nødt til at prøve at kontrollere sproget.

and all politicians know they have to try and control language.

It wasn't until, for example, 1771

Sådan var det ikke indtil, for eksempel, 1771,

that the British Parliament allowed newspapers to report

hvor det britiske parlament tillod aviser at rapportere

the exact words that were said in the debating chamber.

de eksakte ord, som blev sagt i debatsalen.

And this was actually all down to the bravery

Og dette var faktisk alt sammen p.g.a. modet

fra en fyr med det usædvanlige navn, Brass Crosby,

of a guy with the extraordinary name of Brass Crosby,

who took on Parliament.

som gik op imod Parlamentet.

And he was thrown into the Tower of London

Og han var kastet ind i Tower of London

og fængslet,

and imprisoned,

men han var modig nok,

but he was brave enough,

han var modig nok at tage kampen op,

he was brave enough to take them on, and in the end,

og til sidst havde han så meget populær støtte i London, at han vandt.

he had such popular support in London that he won.

Og det var kun få år senere

And it was only a few years later

that we have the first recorded use of the phrase "as bold as brass."

at vi fik det første registrerede brug af sætningen

"så modig som brass (messing)."

De fleste tror det handler om metallet.

Most people think that's down to the metal.

Det gør det ikke. Det handler om en aktivist

It's not; it's down to a campaigner for the freedom of the press.

som kæmpede for pressefrihed.

But to really show you how words and politics interact,

Men for virkelig at vise jer hvordan

ord og politik spiller sammen,

vil jeg tage jer tilbage til USA,

I want to take you back to the United States of America,

just after they'd achieved independence.

lige efter de var blevet selvstændige.

And they had to face the question

Og de var nødt til at tage stilling til

hvad de skulle kalde George Washington, deres leder.

of what to call George Washington, their leader.

They didn't know.

De vidste det ikke.

What do you call the leader of a republican country?

Hvad kalder man lederen af et republikansk land?

And this was debated in Congress for ages and ages.

Og dette blev debatteret i Kongressen i en evighed.

And there were all sorts of suggestions on the table,

Og der var alle mulige forslag på bordet,

som måske kunne have blevet valgt.

which might have made it.

I mean, some people wanted him to be called

Jeg mener, nogen mennesker ville kalde ham

Overdommer Washington,

"Chief Magistrate Washington,"

and other people, "His Highness, George Washington,"

og andre, Hans Højhed George Washington,

and other people,

og andre, Beskytteren af Frihederne for Folket af Amerikas Forenede Stater Washington.

"Protector of the Liberties

of the People of the United States of America Washington."

Not that catchy.

Ikke så iørefaldende.

Some people just wanted to call him king --

Nogle mennesker ville bare kalde ham konge.

De mente det var gennemtestet.

it was tried and tested.

They weren't even being monarchical,

Og de havde ikke engang monarki der,

de havde den idé at man kunne blive valgt som konge

they had the idea that you could be elected king for a fixed term.

for en begrænset periode.

And, you know, it could have worked.

Og, du ved, det kunne have virket.

And everybody got insanely bored,

Og alle kedede sig sindssygt meget, faktisk,

because this debate went on for three weeks.

fordi debatten blev ved i tre uger.

I read a diary of this poor senator who just keeps coming back,

Jeg læste en dagbog af en stakkels senator,

som blev ved med at skrive, "Stadig ved dette emne."

"Still on this subject."

Og grunden til udskydelsen og kedsomheden var, at

And the reason for the delay and the boredom

was that the House of Representatives were against the Senate.

Repræsentanternes Hus var imod Senatet.

Repræsentanternes Hus ville ikke have Washington

The House of Representatives didn't want Washington to get drunk on power.

skulle blive overvældet af magt.

They didn't want to call him "king," in case that gave him ideas,

De ville ikke kalde ham konge.

i tilfælde af det skulle give ham eller hans efterfølger gode ideer.

or his successor ideas.

Så de ville give ham den mest ydmyge, tarvelige,

So they wanted to give him the humblest, meagerest,

most pathetic title that they could think of.

mest ynkelige titel de kunne komme på.

Og den titel var "Præsident."

And that title ...

was "President."

(Laughter)

"President." They didn't invent the title.

Præsident. De opfandt ikke titlen. Jeg mener, den eksisterede før,

I mean, it existed before,

but it just meant somebody who presides over a meeting.

men det betød bare nogen som præsiderer over et møde.

It was like the foreman of the jury.

Det var som formanden af juryen.

And it didn't have much more grandeur

Og det havde ikke meget mere pragt

end betegnelsen "formand" eller "tilsynsmand."

than the term "foreman" or "overseer."

There were occasional presidents of little colonial councils

Der var lejlighedsvis præsidenter af små koloniale råd

and bits of government,

og dele af regeringen, men det var virkelig ikke nogen særlig titel.

but it was really a nothing title.

Og det var derfor Senatet protesterede imod det.

And that's why the Senate objected to it.

De sagde, det er latterligt, I kan ikke kalde ham Præsident.

They said, "That's ridiculous! You can't call him 'President.'

Denne her mand skal rundt og skrive under på traktater og møde udenlandske, højtstående personer.

This guy has to go and sign treaties and meet foreign dignitaries.

Who's going to take him seriously if he's got a silly little title

Og hvem vil tage ham seriøst

hvis han har en lille dum titel

som Præsident af Amerikas Forenede Stater?

like 'President of the United States of America'?"

(Laughter)

And after three weeks of debate, in the end,

Og efter tre ugers debat, til sidst

the Senate did not cave in.

gav Senatet ikke op.

Instead, they agreed to use the title "President" for now.

I stedet blev de enige om at bruge titlen "Præsident" for nu,

men de ville også have totalt fastsat

But they also wanted it absolutely set down

at de ikke var enige med det

that they didn't agree with it,

af anstændig respekt for de holdninger og praksis af civiliserede nationer,

from a decent respect for the opinions and practice of civilized nations,

whether under republican or monarchical forms of government,

omend under republikansk eller monarkisk form for regering,

whose custom it is to annex,

hvis skik er at annektere,

through the office of the Chief Magistrate,

gennem Overdommerens kontor, titler af respektabilitet --

titles of respectability --

ikke en pokkers Præsident --

not bloody "President."

og at i samarbejde med udenlandske nationer,

And that, in the intercourse with foreign nations,

majestæten af USA's folk

the majesty of the people of the United States

may not be hazarded by an appearance of singularity --

må ikke være vovet af en enkeltstående optræden,

i.e., we don't want to look like bloody weirdos.

dvs., vi vil ikke ligne nogle fandens tosser.

Man kan lære tre interessante ting fra dette.

Now, you can learn three interesting things from this.

For det første -- og dette er min favorit --

First of all -- and this is my favorite --

is that, so far as I've ever been able to find out,

at så vidt jeg har kunnet finde ud af,

har Senatet aldrig officielt godkendt titlen Præsident.

the Senate has never formally endorsed the title of President.

Barack Obama, President Obama, is there on borrowed time,

Barack Obama, Præsident Obama, er der på lånt tid,

just waiting for the Senate to spring into action.

venter kun på at Senatet skal springe i aktion.

(Laughter)

The second thing you can learn

Den anden ting man kan lære er at

når en regering siger at det er en midlertidig størrelse --

is that, when a government says that this is a temporary measure --

(Latter) --

(Laughter)

you can still be waiting 223 years later.

kan du stadig vente 223 år senere.

Men den tredje ting du kan lære,

But the third thing you can learn -- and this is the really important one,

og det er den virkelig vigtige,

pointen jeg vil efterlade jer med,

the point I want to leave you on --

er at titlen, Præsident af Amerikas Forenede Stater,

is that the title, "President of the United States of America,"

doesn't sound that humble at all these days, does it?

lyder ikke specielt ydmyg i disse dage, gør den?

Something to do with the slightly over 5,000

Noget der har at gøre med de lidt over 5.000

nuclear warheads he has at his disposal

atomsprænghoveder han har til rådighed

og den største økonomi i verden

and the largest economy in the world

og en flåde af doner og alt den slags ting.

and a fleet of drones and all that sort of stuff.

Reality and history have endowed that title with grandeur.

Virkelighed og historie har udstyret titlen med pragt.

And so the Senate won in the end.

Så Senatet vandt i sidste ende.

They got their title of respectability.

De fik deres respekterede titel.

And also, the Senate's other worry, the appearance of singularity --

Og samtidig, Senatets anden bekymring, den enkeltstående optræden --

well, it was a singularity back then.

det var i hvert fald enkeltstående dengang.

But now, do you know how many nations have a president?

Men nu, ved I hvor mange nationer har en præsident?

Et hundrede syvogfyrre.

A hundred and forty-seven.

All because they want to sound like the guy

Alt sammen fordi de vil lyde som

who's got the 5,000 nuclear warheads, etc.

manden, som har de 5.000 atomsprænghoveder, osv.

Og så, til sidst, Senatet vandt

And so, in the end, the Senate won

og Repræsentanternes Hus tabte,

and the House of Representatives lost ...

because nobody's going to feel that humble

fordi ingen vil føle sig ydmyg

når de får at vide de nu er

when they're told that they are now

Præsident af Amerikas Forenede Stater.

the President of the United States of America.

And that's the important lesson I think you can take away,

Og det er den vigtige pointe jeg tror I kan tage med jer,

og den som jeg vil efterlade jer med.

and the one I want to leave you with.

Politikere forsøger at udvælge ord og bruge ord til at forme virkeligheden

Politicians try to pick and use words to shape and control reality,

og kontrollere virkeligheden, men faktisk,

but in fact,

reality changes words far more than words can ever change reality.

ændrer virkeligheden ordene meget mere

end ordene nogensinde kan ændre virkeligheden.

Mange tak.

Thank you very much.