A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine who also happens to be a fantastic wordsmith had a conversation about archaic words that need to be revived. This happened as a result of a US Senate candidate being quoted and using such a word. (I’ll bring that word up in a later post).
Thus, birthed the idea for the revival of archaic political words that should be dashed into the political vernacular of today’s narrative.
Today’s word is Haberdashery.
From Merriam Webster:
- goods sold by a haberdasher
- a haberdasher’s shop
Haberdasher is defined as:
- British : a dealer in notions
- a dealer in men’s clothing and accessories
Turning to Wikipedia, we receive this description of Haberdasher:
The word appears in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Haberdashers were initially peddlers, sellers of small items such as needles, buttons, etc.
Within the political vernacular, one oftentimes hears this word in reference to a politician attempting to peddle their message. “That’s pure political haberdashery!” a politician may use in a quote.
Finally, the most contemporary reference to a haberdasher would be to that of the late President Harry S. Truman who before becoming President, owned a haberdashery in downtown Kansas City.
The next time you hear some political candidate ranting about some insignificant non-issue, remember to call it what it is – haberdashery!
ROFL! Great stuff, Shane!
Here’s one: logrolling!
“Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member.”
“American frontiersman Davy Crockett was one of the first to apply the term to legislation:”
“The first known use of the term was by Congressman Davy Crockett, who said on the floor (of the U.S. House of Representatives) in 1835, “my people don’t like me to log-roll in their business, and vote away pre-emption rights to fellows in other states that never kindle a fire on their own land.”
“The widest accepted origin is the old custom of neighbors assisting each other with the moving of logs. If two neighbors had cut a lot of timber which needed to be moved, it made more sense for them to work together to roll the logs.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logrolling
Phoenix City Council member Michael Nowakowski’s proposal for city-issued I.D. cards for illegal aliens is haberdashery!
Gee, I dunno, would this really make an impact on a protest sign?
I think balderdash might be more appropriate.
Simply because Truman was awesome, and when I think haberdasher, I think Truman, thanks to the autobiography.
Hey, Klute!
Balderdash is good! Always liked that one, LOL!
“Balderdashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh… ”