(intransitive) to employ this kind of political strategy. Update: This word was added in April 2017. What Does Amen Mean At The End Of A Prayer? 2. suggest a vision for a country where white, Christian males are in power once more. Neither the Master's calls nor the ear-ripping blasts of his dog-whistle could bring her back to The Place. ‘A dog-whistle election campaign is not the same as a strategy for transforming Britain.’ ‘He has pledged to tackle immigration, law and order and discipline in schools - all the so-called "dog whistle" issues with which Howard called the Tory faithful back to the fold.’ It is perhaps the archetypal dog-whistle statement. The difference with a dog whistle is that the sound emitted can’t be heard: its Information and translations of dog whistle in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. It is a metaphor. 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'. , however, is firmly established in 1995 when a Canadian newspaper described language like “special interest” as a “dog-whistle that those fed up with feminists, minorities, the undeserving poor hear loud and clear.”, spread in the Australian, United Kingdom, and American political press during the 1990s. The Dictionary.com Word Of The Year For 2020 Is …. adjective. The average voter, it’s said, picked up nothing controversial in the remarks, but the Christian conservative heard the hint that Bush was willing to nominate a justice willing to overturn Roe v. Wade. Figuratively, a 'dog whistle' is a coded message communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a particular group of people, but not by others. The whistle is loud, but not obnoxiously so. Yet there's another dog whistle we've been hearing about lately: a coded message communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a particular group of people, but not by others. A dog whistle is a political term about statements that appear innocent to the general public but they actually use subtle, coded language to communicate a secondary message to an intended group. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins You hit the whistle and say ‘sit.’ After a number of repetitions, the dog learns to sit on the sound of the whistle alone.” You can teach and reinforce this skill virtually anywhere, even in the house. And it is primarily used to describe political speech. The number 14 represents their 14-word slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The number 88 is code for “heil Hitler” since the letter H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Definition of DOG WHISTLE (adjective): referring to hidden political messages A dog whistle is a type of whistle used to train and communicate with dogs that cannot be … The earliest, and still most common, meaning of dog whistle is the obvious one: it is a whistle for dogs. Many critics heard in his choruses of law and order, Make America Great Again, and American First as dog whistles: packaging in general, nice-seeming slogans that subliminally suggest a vision for a country where white, Christian males are in power once more. dog-whistle politics. Information and translations of Dog-whistle politics in the most comprehensive dictionary Jack had a dog-whistle, so he took it off and gave it to her. A brief history of a political dog whistle. Enrich your vocabulary with the English Definition dictionary How to use dog whistle in a sentence. While I've got the Vice President here, let's have a little history lesson about the dog-whistle that is the phrase "law and order." In the Republican Southern Strategy, terms, phrases, and actions that evoke racism to racists, while being plausibly deniable to the press and the wider public. A phrase, like welfare reform and inner cities, were seen by some observers as a conservative dog whistle to certain white voters, meant to stir up unfounded fears of Black people abusing social support and living lives of drug and crime. In politician speak, a dog whistle is language that conveys a particular meaning to a group of potential supporters. Morgan Swofford for LittleThings Different Types Of Dog Whistles Delivered to your inbox! Like other whistles, you blow into one end, and it emits a high-pitched sound. What does dog whistle mean? If you want to cast him as just a nativist, his slogan "Make America Great Again" can be read as a dog-whistle to some whiter and more Anglo-Saxon past.—Ross Douthat, The New York Times, 10 August 2015, Saul introduces the concept of the “figleaf,” which differs from the more familiar dog whistle: while the dog whistle targets specific listeners with coded messages that bypass the broader population, the figleaf adds a moderating element of decency to cover the worst of what’s on display, but nevertheless changes the boundaries of acceptability.—Ray Drainville, Hyperallergic, 12 July 2016, Dog whistle appears to have taken on this political sense in the mid-1990s; the Oxford English Dictionary currently has a citation from a Canadian newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen, in October of 1995, as their earliest recorded figurative use: “It's an all-purpose dog-whistle that those fed up with feminists, minorities, the undeserving poor hear loud and clear.”. insurrection He's making a quiz, and checking it twice... Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? dog-whistle in British English. Check out words from the year you were born and more! Yet it is only within the past 20 years or so that it has seen this figurative sense take hold. 1/ https://t.co/v15CnAKsHz. The name is a reference to high-pitched dog whistles that people cannot hear, but dogs can. “When you’ve been playing dog-whistle racial politics, don’t be surprised when someone with a fully racist bullhorn walks in to find a warmed-up audience.” Dog-whistle politics is a form of political rhetoric in which coded language is used, thereby ensuring that a message reaches a target audience without making the general public aware of the specific content of the message. So I’ll explain what that means to you. dog whistle 1. noun Literally, a whistle that emits sound at a frequency so high that it can be heard by dogs but not humans. 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