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

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Prevoditelj: Senzos Osijek Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

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

Jedna od mojih omiljenih riječi u cijelom

Oxfordovom riječniku engleskog je "snollygoster".

is "snollygoster,"

just because it sounds so good.

Samo zato što to zvuči tako dobro.

Snollygoster znači

And what snollygoster means is "a dishonest politician."

„nepošteni političar".

Although there was a 19th-century newspaper editor

Iako, u 19. stoljeću živio je

novinski urednik koji je definirao to bolje kada je rekao,

who defined it rather better when he said,

"A snollygoster is a fellow who seeks office

„snollygoster je čovjek koji traži ured,

regardless of party, platform or principle,

bez obzira na stranku, podij ili princip,

i koji, kad pobijedi,

and who, when he wins,

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

dolazi ondje strmoglavom silom

monumentalnog verbalnog rasipanja nečuvenih ideja“.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Nemam pojma što znaći "talknophical".

Something to do with words, I assume.

Nešto u vezi s riječima, pretpostavljam.

No, veoma je važno da su riječi u središtu politike

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

i svi političari znaju da se moraju truditi i kontrolirati jezik.

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

It wasn't until, for example, 1771

Primjerice, sve do 1771.

that the British Parliament allowed newspapers to report

i objave britanskog parlamenta, nije bilo dozvoljeno novinama objavljivati

the exact words that were said in the debating chamber.

točne riječi koje su izgovorene u sabornici.

And this was actually all down to the bravery

Sve je to učinjeno zbog hrabrosti

čovjeka izvanrednog imena Brass Crosby,

of a guy with the extraordinary name of Brass Crosby,

who took on Parliament.

koji je navalio na Parlamet.

And he was thrown into the Tower of London

Bio je bačen u Tower of London

i zatvoren,

and imprisoned,

ali bio je dovoljno hrabar,

but he was brave enough,

bio je dovoljno hrabar da nastavi,

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

na kraju je imao tako popularnu potporu u Londonu da je pobijedio.

he had such popular support in London that he won.

Svega nekoliko godina kasnije

And it was only a few years later

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

imamo prvu zabilježbu upotrebe fraze

"as bold as a brass (smion kao Brass – tj. mjed )."

Većina ljudi misli da se radi o metalu.

Most people think that's down to the metal.

Ne radi se. To je po borcu

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

za slobodu tiska.

But to really show you how words and politics interact,

No, da bi vam stvarno pokazao kako

riječi i politika međudjeluju,

odvest ću vas u SAD,

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

just after they'd achieved independence.

odmah poslije ostvarivanja neovisnosti.

And they had to face the question

Morali su se suočiti s pitanjem

kako zvati, Georgea Washingtona, njihovog vođu.

of what to call George Washington, their leader.

They didn't know.

Nisu znali.

What do you call the leader of a republican country?

Kako zovu vođe država koje su republike?

And this was debated in Congress for ages and ages.

O tome se u Kongresu raspravljalo i raspravljalo.

And there were all sorts of suggestions on the table,

Bilo je svakakvih prijedloga

koji su mogli biti odabrani.

which might have made it.

I mean, some people wanted him to be called

Neki ljudi su ga željeli oslovljavati sa

Glavni Sudac Washington,

"Chief Magistrate Washington,"

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

drugi Njegova Visost George Washington,

and other people,

treći Zaštitnik sloboda ljudi u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama Washington.

"Protector of the Liberties

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

Not that catchy.

Ne baš privlačno.

Some people just wanted to call him king --

Neki ljudi su ga jednostavno htjeli nazvati Kralj.

Mislili su da je iskušano i testirano.

it was tried and tested.

They weren't even being monarchical,

A nisu ciljali biti monarhija,

imali su ideju da možete biti izabrani kraljem

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

na određeno vrijeme.

And, you know, it could have worked.

I znate, moglo je to upaliti.

And everybody got insanely bored,

Svima je zapravo postalo užasno dosadno

because this debate went on for three weeks.

jer se rasprava nastavila iduća tri tjedna.

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

Čitao sam dnevik nesretnog senatora

koji je cijelo vrijeme ponavljao "Još uvijek na ovoj temi“ .

"Still on this subject."

Razlog kašnjenja i dosade bio je što je

And the reason for the delay and the boredom

was that the House of Representatives were against the Senate.

Zastupnički dom bio protiv Senata.

Zastupnički dom nije htio da Washingtona

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

opije moć.

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

Nisu ga željeli zvati kralj,

da to ne da ideje njemu ili njegovu nasljedniku.

or his successor ideas.

Željeli su mu dati skromniji, slabiji,

So they wanted to give him the humblest, meagerest,

most pathetic title that they could think of.

najjadniji naslov kojeg su se mogli sjetiti.

Taj naslov bio je ˝predsjednik˝.

And that title ...

was "President."

(Laughter)

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

Predsjednik. Nisu oni izmislili taj naslov. Postojao je on ranije,

I mean, it existed before,

but it just meant somebody who presides over a meeting.

no samo je označavao nekoga tko predsjeda sastankom.

It was like the foreman of the jury.

To je bilo kao glavni porotnik.

And it didn't have much more grandeur

Nije to bilo ništa raskošnije

od izraza "nadzornik" ili "predradnik".

than the term "foreman" or "overseer."

There were occasional presidents of little colonial councils

Postojali su povremeni predsjednici malih kolonijalnih vijeća

and bits of government,

i djelića vlasti, ali zapravo nije bio nikakav naslov.

but it was really a nothing title.

I zato je Senat tome prigovorio.

And that's why the Senate objected to it.

Rekli su da je to smiješno i da ga ne mogu zvati predsjednik.

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

Taj čovjek treba potpisivati sporazume i susretati strane dostojanstvenike.

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

I tko će ga uzeti za ozbiljno

ako ima blesav naslov

kao što je Predsjednik Sjedinjenih Američkih Država?

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

(Laughter)

And after three weeks of debate, in the end,

Nakon tri tjedna raspravljanja

the Senate did not cave in.

Senat još uvijek nije popustio.

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

Umjesto toga, odlučili su privremeno koristiti naziv "predsjednik“,

ali htjeli su da se jasno istakne

But they also wanted it absolutely set down

kako se nisu s tim složili

that they didn't agree with it,

iz poštovanja prema mišljenjima i praksi civiliziranih nacija,

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

whether under republican or monarchical forms of government,

bile one republike ili monarhije,

whose custom it is to annex,

čiji je običaj bio nadopuniti

through the office of the Chief Magistrate,

ured Glavnog Suca respektabilnim titulama –

titles of respectability --

ne prokleti Predsjednikom –

not bloody "President."

i da u komunikaciji s drugim nacijama,

And that, in the intercourse with foreign nations,

veličanstvo naroda Sjedinjenih Američkih Država

the majesty of the people of the United States

may not be hazarded by an appearance of singularity --

ne bi bilo oštećeno pojavom jedne osobe,

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

tj. ne želimo izgledati kao čudaci.

Iz toga se mogu izvuči tri zanimljive stvari.

Now, you can learn three interesting things from this.

Prvo – i ovo mi je najdraže –

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

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

a to je, što do sada, koliko sam bio u mogućnosti saznati,

Senat nikada nije formalno usvojio naslov Predsjednika.

the Senate has never formally endorsed the title of President.

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

Barack Obama, predsjednik Obama, je tamo na određeno vrijeme,

just waiting for the Senate to spring into action.

čeka Senat da krene u akciju.

(Laughter)

The second thing you can learn

Druga stvar koju možete naučiti je ta,

kada vlada kaže da je ovo privremena mjera --

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

(Smijeh) --

(Laughter)

you can still be waiting 223 years later.

možete čekati i 223 godine.

Međutim, treća stvar koju možete naučiti,

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

i ta je vrlo važna,

poanta koju vam želim ostaviti

the point I want to leave you on --

je ta da naziv Predsjednik SAD-a

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

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

ne zvuči tako skromno ovih dana uopće, zar ne?

Something to do with the slightly over 5,000

Ima veze s nešto više od 5.000

nuclear warheads he has at his disposal

nuklearnih bojnih glava koje ima na raspolaganju

i najvećom ekonomijom na svijetu

and the largest economy in the world

te flotom bespilotnih letjelica i svim tim stvarima.

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

Reality and history have endowed that title with grandeur.

Realnost i povijest su taj naslov uzdigli, preuveličali.

And so the Senate won in the end.

I tako je Senat na kraju pobijedio.

They got their title of respectability.

Dobili su svoj naslov poštovanja.

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

Također, druga briga Senata, pojava jedinstvenosti –

well, it was a singularity back then.

dobro, to je bila jedinstvenost onda.

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

Međutim sada, znate li koliko nacija ima predsjednika?

147.

A hundred and forty-seven.

All because they want to sound like the guy

Samo zato što žele zvučati kao

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

čovjek koji ima 5.000 nuklearnih bojnih glava itd.

I tako na kraju, Senat je pobjedio

And so, in the end, the Senate won

i Zastupnički dom Kongresa izgubio,

and the House of Representatives lost ...

because nobody's going to feel that humble

zato što nitko neće osjetiti tu skromnost

kada im se kaže da su oni sada

when they're told that they are now

Predsjednik SAD-a.

the President of the United States of America.

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

I to je važna lekcija koju možete usvojiti

i ona s kojom želim da odete.

and the one I want to leave you with.

Političari pokušavaju birati riječi i koristiti se njima kako bi oblikovali

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

i kontrolirali stvarnost, međutim zapravo,

but in fact,

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

stvarnost mijenja riječi više

nego što riječi mogu promijeniti stvarnost.

Puno vam hvala.

Thank you very much.