{"id":8130,"date":"2021-12-28T07:39:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T07:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon"},"modified":"2021-12-28T08:20:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T08:20:34","slug":"of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","title":{"rendered":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns. The most famous one in recent times has been US President Barack Obama\u2019s \u2018Yes we can!\u2019 Each country has its local clich\u00e9s, based, amongst other things, on the ideological or developmental context of the times.<\/p>\n

Late Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave national resonance to \u2018Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. \u2019 Technology and innovation have given added impetus to the phenomenon, with Internet and social media propelling information to anyone possessing a smart device which is available and easily portable, whether phone or tablet \u2013 which means practically everyone.<\/p>\n

Thus what starts as a rumble is soon amplified into a wave, and waves have a natural tendency to roll out, often coalescing in the process to become bigger waves.<\/p>\n

In contemporary slang this has been likened to a viral infection which spreads very rapidly, hence \u2018going viral\u2019. Just like the present troublemaker Ebola virus which is threatening to take on the world. With social media as a platform, it\u2019s a multiplicity of waves that reach millions of shores.<\/p>\n

As they are transmitted on the electronic highway via the smart devices, what with the storage and retrieval capacity of the latter, the events can not only be shared across the world but be visualized at one\u2019s leisure.<\/p>\n

This multiplier effect is therefore also repetitive, and thus has as long a lifetime as users want it to. It is thus too that the clip \u2018Vire Mam,\u2019 which was launched early in the present campaign by the Opposition Alliance Lepep, quickly caught the imagination of the population.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a characteristic of information that as it gets diffused and shared at large, it often acquires a life of its own. There is added poignancy and piquancy when, inevitably, the recipients add bits of masala as they exchange views about the original.<\/p>\n

Gossip is in our DNA, irrespective of gender, and the more of it the more exciting it is! \u2018Vire Mam\u2019 has now become almost established as an exchange greeting! Commonly heard is \u2018ki nouvelle, vire meme la!\u2019 and then the reply \u2018bien sire ki pou faire!\u2019 Guffaws of laughter follow with some light banter about the expression and the contents.<\/p>\n

If some with alternative views happen to be about and join in the conversation, it rises in decibel level and gains a mock seriousness before settling down in a lighter mode with more laughter.<\/p>\n

The parting shot can be \u2018Eh, vire meme la hein!\u2019 and more laughter. Which is why it cannot be assumed that the wave will necessarily become the expected tsunami that its initiators are hoping it will transform into. Put more prosaically, it is only when the results are declared on the 11 December that we will know how far any slogan resonated with the masses.<\/p>\n

An interesting fact is the retention and staying power of the original: \u2018Vire Mam 2\u2019 and \u2018Devire Mam\u2019 have not acquired as much popularity and autonomy; \u2018Vire Mam\u2019 remains the favourite, almost like a calf love that is not forgotten! I suppose Michael Porter might call this the comparative advantage of being first out, which the communications-wallahs have knowingly or unwittingly stumbled upon.<\/p>\n

And why not, one may ask, all is fair in war and love \u2013 and local politics is both, according to my observer friend who is quite sharp and astute in these matters, given the number of times political beds have been alternately shared! And, he continues, who says that there won\u2019t be more episodes of such sharing, you just wait and see.<\/p>\n

Most of us would have no reason to doubt what has become quasi-folkloric in our island. One of the interesting tendencies I have noted is for politicians to use medical terminology to make their point.<\/p>\n

Thus, Americans have alluded to \u2018surgical strike\u2019 and things going \u2018clinical\u2019. While this usage may confer an apparent aura on the person resorting to it, I must say that the meaning intended does not quite reflect what it actually implies in the medical field.<\/p>\n

There, \u2018surgical\u2019 has a connotation of being therapeutic, that is directed towards treatment, healing and relieving suffering. One can easily see that such considerations are rather far from war objectives, certainly in the immediate term.<\/p>\n

Whether a sense of \u2018creative destruction\u2019 is implied or follows is hard to make out in the mayhem that is the aftermath of any war. But one would hope so, for all our sakes.<\/p>\n

Similarly with the term \u2018clinical\u2019. When we say clinical we mean having a sense of detachment for the subject, here the patient, which prevents the doctor\u2019s judgement from being warped.<\/p>\n

That is why medical ethics counsels doctors to avoid treating their near and dear ones, for fear that their closeness may cloud their vision and lead to the decisions taken not being objective, and therefore potentially harmful.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it implies having empathy for the patient. In war, clearly this does not apply. Basically, therefore, one can see that the medical jargon is used in a restricted sense, and poorly understood.<\/p>\n

A distortion of meaning, what, at which politicians are past masters! Locally, we have liberal references to adversaries needing \u2018panadol\u2019 and others being in \u2018intensive care\u2019 or \u2018ICU\u2019. In past campaigns, we had heard about \u2018changement sous anesth\u00e9sie\u2019 which was equated to \u2018changement en douceur\u2019.<\/p>\n

Alas, as we all know, the change when it comes is always noisy and dramatic, hardly \u2018en douceur\u2019! But there you are, that\u2019s also our folklore, just as \u2018mouche verte\u2019 has also truly acquired a novel meaning in our political lexicon.<\/p>\n

Who else but a seasoned politician could possibly describe a situation as \u2013 I prefer to put it in English! \u2013 the shit changes but the flies remain the same.<\/p>\n

How colourful, and rich, politics and political folklore! But never to be taken for the truth, in the common man\u2019s perception and experience a notion totally unfamiliar to politicians. Nevertheless, no harm enjoying the show while it lasts!<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns. The most famous one in recent times has been US President Barack Obama\u2019s \u2018Yes we can!\u2019 Each country has its local clich\u00e9s, based, amongst other things, on the ideological or developmental context of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,12,16],"tags":[233,245,241,369],"class_list":["post-8130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-mauritius","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nOf politics and politicians: folklore and jargon - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\"},\"wordCount\":1027,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Mauritius\",\"Politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\",\"name\":\"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon - Mauritius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":336,\"caption\":\"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\",\"name\":\"Mauritius\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon - Mauritius","description":"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon","og_description":"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","og_site_name":"Mauritius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon","datePublished":"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon"},"wordCount":1027,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Mauritius","Mauritius","Politics"],"articleSection":["all news","files","homepage-english","policy","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon","name":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon - Mauritius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-28T07:39:46+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-28T08:20:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"No harm enjoying the show while it lasts! Political sloganeering and catchphrases are the currency of election campaigns ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2021\/12\/img-61cac8b76db1c.jpg","width":600,"height":336,"caption":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/of-politics-and-politicians-folklore-and-jargon#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Of politics and politicians: folklore and jargon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/","name":"Mauritius","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}