Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 October 13

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October 13

political neologisms in different nations

Are there well-known political neologisms in different nations like France, UK, Italy, India, Mexico, Brazil etc like how soccer mom, Bernie Bros, mama grizzly and Nascar dad are known in USA? Donmust90 (talk) 14:02, 13 October 2021 (UTC)Donmust90Donmust90 (talk) 14:02, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is a particularly well known one in the UK. As is Tired and emotional. --Jayron32 16:21, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

For examples in German, see wortwarte.org. Cheers ⌘ _hugarheimur 16:40, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Soviet phraseology was very rich. See examples in category:Soviet phraseology. --Amble (talk) 17:09, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

How is "soccer mom" political? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:19, 13 October 2021 (UTC) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:19, 13 October 2021 (UTC) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:19, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

See our soccer mom article which discusses "the media's belief that soccer moms had become the most sought-after group of swing voters in the 1996 elections. In the end, suburban women favored Clinton by 53 to 39 percent, while suburban men voted for Dole". A British analogy of a targeted social grouping might be Mondeo man from the same era. Alansplodge (talk) 19:08, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

That doesn't make the term itself political. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:46, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia (p. 1023) says it's a "political term" and "has entered the national political lexicon". Alansplodge (talk) 22:36, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

The second statement does not prove the first statement. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:15, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

See Category:Political_terminology_by_country Nanonic (talk) 18:49, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Where do "black" and "white" appear in that list? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:16, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Why do you ask? —Tamfang (talk) 02:36, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Because those words are about as political as can be. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:22, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Sorpasso, aggiornamento, lustration, cohabitation (politics), camisa nueva, café para todos, guarimba, escuálido, Boliburguesía, piñata (Nicaragua), Jamaica coalition (Germans have flag-based terms for coalitions). --Error (talk) 23:41, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Sans-culottes? Gilets jaunes? Bolsheviks? 2602:24A:DE47:B8E0:1B43:29FD:A863:33CA (talk) 06:55, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Skinhead? Brexiteer.  --Lambiam 12:47, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

I think what the poster is asking for is if the way demographic stereotypes of contemporary US punditry is used in other countries to explain electoral outcomes. I'd say no, in other countries you'd rather use terms like class, gender, age group, ethnicity, language, religion, caste etc to map electoral demographics, rather than coming up with a fictional representation of a specific intersection of these categories. --Soman (talk) 13:21, 14 October 2021 (UTC) Although the Mondeo Man trope flagged above by Alansplodge is pretty good example

But see the Dutch uses of "Henk & Ingrid"^[1][2] and "Johnny's & Anita's"^[3] that assign personal names to stereotypes.  --Lambiam 19:53, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

I'm not too familiar with the Dutch usage but from a quick look this seems more like generic Average Joe stereotypes, much less specific than say Soccer moms (which represents an intersection of gender-class-race-age-geography)? In Sweden there is Verklighetens folk ('People of Reality'), coined by right-wing populists as a trope of common people vs. urban cultural elites, but it's applied in such a vague manner to the point that it has no real value. --Soman (talk) 11:47, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

UK, white van man, Daily Mail reader, Hardworking families, Squeezed middle. We also have politico-geographies like Red wall (British politics). Probably many more, that's just off the top of my head. --Dweller (talk) Old fashioned is the new thing! 11:54, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Cabo Verdean natives

Praia, 1806

According to Cape Verde, it was uninhabited until the 15th century and was then colonized by Europeans. However, this image of Praia coast from 1806 shows what to me appears like Cabo Verdean indigenous people in their sailboats to the left and in the background. Who are they? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 17:20, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

There is more information at the article History of Cape Verde, which is noted in that section. It states "The Portuguese soon brought slaves from the West African coast." Black people currently living in Cape Verde would be descendants of these slaves, much like the black people in places like the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America. Just as countries like Haiti are today mostly populated by descendants of black African people, it was the European Atlantic slave trade that brought them there. --Jayron32 17:45, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

See also Lost slave history of Cape Verde is being unearthed. Alansplodge (talk) 18:59, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Yes, but it's strange that, assuming those are slaves, they were allowed to sail freely, as depicted on the picture. Apparently, they could escape in that case. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 20:20, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

This article says "manumission in Cape Verde started as early as the late fifteenth century" (original says "fifth century", which must be a typo). BTW, it's a 600 mile journey back to Africa; quite an undertaking in a canoe, even if you knew which way to go. Alansplodge (talk) 22:22, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

That makes sense, thanks. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 07:34, 14 October 2021 (UTC)