campaignspeak

campaignspeak

English

Etymology

campaign +‎ -speak

Noun

campaignspeak (uncountable)

1. The jargon used by politicians, lobbyists, and commentators, especially during a political campaign.
   • 1998, Doris Mortman, The Lucky Ones, Zebra Books (1998), →ISBN, page 50:

     "That's why I need you so badly, Zoë. You know how to translate the harsh realities of foreign policy into relatively intelligible campaignspeak."

     Zoë laughed. "Intelligible campaignspeak is an oxymoron."

   • 2000, William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Common Courage Press (2000), →ISBN, page 11:

     The media and the public do in fact relish catching politicians' lies, but these are the small lies — lies about money, sex, drug use and other peccadillos, and the ritual doubletalk of campaignspeak.

   • 2007, Chris Lehmann, "Psyched", The Washington Post, 15 July 2007:

     Unfortunately, The Political Brain doesn't follow up on the implications of this research. Rather, Westen, who describes himself as ardently "pro-Democratic," transposes his clinical findings into one-sided campaignspeak.

Synonyms

• electionspeak