Gutfighters and Hatchetmen   

Safire's New Political Dictionary
By William Safire
Random House

Safire's New Political Dictionary
By William Safire
Random House
930 pages; $35

Just in time, William Safire has come up with an updated edition of his classic collection of political lore. I say "just in time" because my copy of the 1978 edition is just about to give up the ghost. Its dog-eared condition is mute testimony to the many times I have turned to it, searching not just for information but also inspiration. Countless other Safire fans no doubt will be equally grateful for an opportunity to trade in their battered copies of previous editions.

In his busy lifetime, Safire has worn many hats – newspaper reporter, television producer, public relations executive, White House speechwriter, historian, novelist, political columnist and lexicographer. His "On Language" column in the New York Times is widely syndicated, widely read, widely discussed – and often widely argued about – by those who love words.

Drawing on this varied background, in 1968 Safire published a book with the rather grandiose title of "The New Language of Politics: An Anecdotal Dictionary of Catchwords, Slogans & Political Usage." The volume offered useful (and often amusing) insights into curious and colorful political words and phrases. As Safire noted in his introduction: "The language of politics is vivid. 'Gutfighters' with an 'instinct for the jugular' and 'hatchetmen' adept at 'nut-cutting' prowl the political jungle. An anonymous voice becomes a 'voice from the sewer,' a bigot an 'apostle of hate,' a pessimist a 'prophet of gloom and doom,' a censor 'a bookburner'; men who enter the political 'arena' with 'foot-in-mouth disease' leave in a 'hail of dead cats.' "

Language is constantly changing and political-speak is no exception. Thus in 1972 Safire's book was given a useful updating and a far catchier title, "Safire's Political Dictionary." Among the numerous additions to that edition: "instant analysis," "benign neglect," and "nattering nabobs of negativism," an alliterative denunciation of pessimists in the media that was offered by Vice President Spiro Agnew in one of his speeches – but coined by ghostwriter Safire.

Safire's credentials as a card-carrying conservative may cause some to eye his role as a dictionary maker with suspicion. Recognizing this possibility he inserted the following disclaimer in the book's next updating in 1978 and repeats it again in the latest edition: "As a newspaper columnist, I have become more opinionated and polemical in my writing, but partisanship stops at the dictionary's edge; as a lexicographer, I have tried – God, how I've tried – to remain nonpartisan, or at least bipartisan."

In the years since the 1978 edition, we have seen the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, along with dramatic changes in our own political landscape. Thus, the 1,100-plus entries in what's now titled "Safire's New Political Dictionary" include such terms as "big tent," "bubba factor," "glass ceiling," "gridlock," "level playing field," "new world order," "politically correct," "voodoo economics" and, of course, "It's the economy, stupid!"

For working journalists, the appeal of Safire's book isn't so much the definitions but its rich array of anecdotes and quotes that beg for use in one's next feature, column or editorial.

Any good dictionary will tell you that a "whistlestop" is "a small, unimportant town, especially along a railway," and thus to "whistlestop" is to make "a brief appearance, single performance or the like, in a small town, as in a political campaign." But consult Safire and not only do you find why whistlestops were called that – because, logically enough, they were towns too small for regular service, where oncoming trains whistled in advance if they had passengers to be discharged – you also get a first-rate discussion of the best-known whistlestop campaign in American history, that of Harry Truman in 1948.

Look up "domino theory" in your Webster's and you'll find a concise definition: "A theory that if one country is taken over by an expansionist, especially Communist, neighbor..the nearby nations will be taken over one after another." Look it up in Safire and you get a lively essay that traces the term back to the 1950s and includes a quote from a wonderful 1968 spoof by Art Buchwald in which the columnist claimed the phrase was coined by one Sam Domino.

Today, candidates' managers frequently are called "handlers." Safire observes that not only do prizefighters have "handlers" but that dogs at dog shows also have "handlers" – "somebody who shows off the best points of the dog to the judges" – and he notes th€t "those in the busi.ness of coaching politicians never call themselves 'handlers'; they prefer 'consultants' or 'advisers.' "

My copy of Safire's latest updating of his collection has been given a place of honor – not on my office shelf with other, less frequently consulted volumes, but tucked away with the latest edition of "The World Almanac" in the drawer beside my computer terminal. There, the two volumes are ready for instant use – and safe from any co-workers who might be tempted to "borrow" one of them and then forget where they found it.