Mugwump
The term mugwump denotes a politician who is independent or neutral. In the presidential elections in the United States of 1884 it was used to designate the progressive wing in the Republican Party , which, in deviation from the party line, did not support its own candidate James G. Blaine , but the Democrat Grover Cleveland . The term comes from the Algonquian language and means great chief but also important man .
In common English usage , a mugwump describes someone who cannot or does not want to make a decision.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn in a column in April 2017 as "mugwump". In this case, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, according to the English-German dictionary Muret-Sanders, gives the translation as “uncertain cantonist”. The English Guardian follows the Merriam-Webster dictionary: "A person who is independent (as in politics) or who remains undecided or neutral". The Guardian also subsequently referred to a website that said, “Mugwump is an anglicized version of a word used by Massachusett Indians to mean 'war leader'. [...] The word was sometimes jestingly applied in early America to someone who was the 'head guy'. "
Individual evidence
- ^ Mugwump in Merriam-Webster, Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ Bring back the mugwumps , The Atlantic
- ^ Daniel Klinghard: The Nationalization of American Political Parties, 1880-1896 . Cambridge University Press, New York City 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19281-1 , p. 82
- ↑ Mugwump in Farlex Free Dictionary
- ↑ Christian Zaschke: The Ice Queen [About the British Prime Minister Theresa May]. Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 19, 2017, p. 3
- ↑ Nadia Khomami: What is a mugwump? An insult that only Boris Johnson would use. The Guardian, April 27, 2017. ( Online )