This is a continuation of the
dKos Glossary Project. The terms, in jokes, and acronyms flash by fast and furious here at dKos, and this set of diary entries has, frankly, grown out of my own inability to keep up.
I've collected up all the definitions that folks came up with in the previous thread and tried to put them together with minimum editing. Suggestions, corrections, new terms are welcome, just slap them in a comment.
So, if you're confused and want to know an abscure kossian term, or maybe you know all the tricks and just want to show off to us lesser mortals, give us a try. And, as always we do take requests.
And lastly, thank you so much to everyone who's contributed something, this thing moves because you move it (much like our political system). Thanks, I owe you one.
Some quick administrivia: I've noticed we're doing alot of general internet terms, I'm not sure if we want to keep doing this, or just point folks toward an outside resource, but for the moment I'm keeping them in. Also a poll about how to handle credits. I've omitted most of the obvious nicknames or epithets, but I might add them back in if there's demand.
ABB - Anybody But Bush
(daria g)
ABD - Anybody But Dean (now somewhat defunct) (daria g)
ABK - Anybody But Kerry (now somewhat defunct) (daria g)
asdf - A nonsense filler word used as a subject for posts. Apparently the first letters you learn to type on a Qwerty keyboard. For the very keen, try asdf.com. (DemFromCT, skiddie)
Beltway Heathers - The DC press corps clique, typified by an obnoxious in-crowd behavior. A reference to the film Heathers. (daria g, kaley, hamletta, pyrrho)
Clenis (TM) - Clinton's Penis. The source of all evil.
CW - Conventional Wisdom (pyrrho, skiddie)
DINO - Democrat In Name Only, e.g. Zell Miller. (Thomas Kalinowski)
DNC - Democratic National Committee. Governing body of the Democratic party, somewhat synonymous with the party itself. Run by the DNC chairman, currentyly Terry McAuliffe. Generally responsible for the running and organization of the party, though in recently years known mostly as a fundraising organization.
DLC - Democratic Leadership Council. A faction of the Democratic party. They are pro-business and centrist on fiscal policy. Brought to power through Clinton's adoption of many of their positions, and now most of their positions are probably equally well describes as Clintonian. They are perhaps slightly to the right of the Democratic mainstream, but by no way an extreme group, despite some of their angry rhetoric against candidates they perceive to be too liberal.
Freeper - A nickname for a regular poster to the forum of freerepublic.com, a right-wing website. Freepers are noted for their eagerness to invade liberal sites in order to harrass their regular posters, hence, has spread to mean any right-wing troll. (Thomas Kalinowski)
Google Bomb - An exploit of the algorithm which drives the Google search engine. Large number of people post links to a certain page with the same link text (such as Bush's White House bio and the phrase "Miserable Failure") which causes Google to artificially boost the sites rank as a result to searching for the Google bombed phrase. (daria g)
GOTV - Get Out The Vote. Operations to register voters and ensure they turn up at the polls/caucuses. (pyrrho)
IMO, IMHO - In My (Humble) Opinion (veracious)
Joementum - One of Joe Lieberman's many awful puns used during his presidential run. It has been appropriated for snarky comments after Lieberman's rather poor results in Iowa and New Hampshire.
(Apparantly the technical term for this isn't a pun, but a portmanteau.) (NegSpin, DemFromCT, Draco)
Kool-Aid - Drinking the Kool-Aid. Originally from the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests (try the Tom Wolfe book of the same name), refering to Kool-Aid at parties being spiked with LSD, so had to drink the Kool-Aid to be "tuned in". Also connected in people's minds to Jim Jones' followers use of Flavor-Aid containing cyanide to kill themselves. Now used in political circles to refer to people who have bought into a candidacy or a cause wholeheartedly. (pyrrho, ogre)
Kool Kidz - Similar to the term defined above, media "heathers". Describes the disturbing tendency of many in the media to act like the proverbial "cool kids" in high school - you know, the ones who tortured the nerds and felt they were smugly superior and just "too cool" for everything that went on around them. This is exacerbated by the fact that many campaign reporters, who resent the grueling travel schedule, also resent the candidates for having become more successful than they are. So it manifests in the kind of coverage Gore got in 2000, as well-documented by Bob Somerby at the Howler.(DavidNYC)
Kossacks, Kossians - Us (daria g)
Kossary - This (DavidNYC)
Loyalty Oath - It's recently come into vogue to demand of the supporters of fallen or shaky looking candidates that they swear to support the party nominee despite what may happen to their man. (pyrrho)
Mighty Wurlitzer, The - The deafening chorus of right-wing media in perfect harmony. Refers to the right wing spin machine as comprised by elected officials, their staff, the RNC, right wing interest groups, and right leaning media. See Robert Borosage. (hamletta)
Mo, Big Mo - Momentum. (skiddie)
n/t, (nm) - No text, or no message. Used to indicate that the entire message is in the subject line, and there's no reason to open the main post. (pyrrho, DemFromCT)
OT - Off Topic (pyrrho)
OTOH - On the Other Hand
Push Poll: a technique for spreading lies or unpleasant truths about a rival candidate by pretending to conduct a telephone poll. Example: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for George W. Bush if you knew he went AWOL from his unit during the Vietnam War?" (Thomas Kalinowski)
RINO - Republican In Name Only, e.g. Olympia Snowe. (Thomas Kalinowski)
SCLM - So Called Liberal Media, a derisive term coined by Eric Alterman in his book What Liberal Media?.
Tin-Foil Hat - A disturbed person who wears tin-foil on their head to ward off the voices and signals from outer space. A label for outlandish conspiracy theorists from both left and right. A reference to stereotypical crazy conspiracy theory. Now beginning to come into use as a self-deprecating term to acknowledge that what the person is about to say sounds somewhat outlandish. Used similarly to asbestos long-johns. (DemFromCT)
Tracking Poll: Typically a one-question poll taken daily shortly before an election. Usually three (or sometimes two) days of results are then averaged together to lower the error incured by the small daily sample size. Purports to "track" the electorate on a day-by-day basis, showing momentum, movement, etc. Usually used in the last few days in the run up to an election. (DavidNYC)
Troll - People who post to message boards for the sole purpose of picking fights, creating schisms and generally making things unpleasant for everyone else. They do not necessarily believe what they post. A usenet term originally, originating from "trolling" as it originated from fishing, as in "Trolling for an argument". (kaley, pyrrho)
Tweety - Chris Matthews. (DemFromCT)
Wingnut - From right-wing nut.(Thomas Kalinowski)
What's your F**king Problem? - Go ask Theoria. Really ought to be experienced. (daria g, DemFromCT)
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary. From car ads that advertize gas mileage but included this qualifier. Usually following a personal anecdote that might not hold for all cases. (pyrrho)