Dumbest word in American English: Swiftboat (as a verb)

[alcibiades_mystery]

Am I the only one that cringes?

[MethuenProgressive]

1. You'd think all Democrats would shun it - instead of adopting it as a tactic.

Wouldn't you?

[Buzz Clik]

2. It's come to mean any sort of unwanted challenge -- which is every challenge.

Thus, it means nothing.

It's strangely like the "gate" suffix for every scandal. Monicagate? Christ.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. I agree it means nothing

Every biased partisan assumes that every political attack is a case of "swiftboating" (eeeeew).

I want it to go away.

It makes Baby Jesus cry.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. BabyJesusgate. nt

[Buzz Clik]

10. Are you swiftboating baby Jesus? I'm taking a stance against that. A wide stance.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. It makes the original swiftboating incident seem silly, and that's wrong.

In the orig. one the airways were filled with outright lies about military service, which should be punished, in my opinion. (And hey, I'm not even a military person or supporter of military ideas).

[sam sarrha]

5. no... it is perfict... a guy "destroys" another man that made him a hero in battle, who was the

first to turn into the enemy and attack.

the unique situation is the coward also gets a medal, then turns against the real hero under the employ of other cowards.

there are so many damn verbs in there..!! perfect, it isn't just a verb it is an F'n Greek Tragedy..!!

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

6. I think it's a great word, used as a pejorative...

... it serves as a reminder that those who smeared Kerry so unjustly were seen for exactly what they are. The more widely used the better IMHO.

Here's the Wiki entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftboating

Please don't swiftboat me for taking this position.


:D

[iamjoy]

9. I Agree With You

word use changes over time.

When I was a kid, we used to say, "ain't ain't a word, 'cos ain't ain't in the dictionary."

Well, look at a dictionary today and it does have "ain't"

I use scrapbook as a verb, much to my husband's dismay. But, I say, if the craft continues to be a popular hobby, the dictionaries will catch up eventually.

To me, "swiftboat" can be a verb, just like campaigning. To me swiftboating is when a political candidate (or organization) takes an aspect of an opponent's history or character that should be a strength and through a series of lies and innuendo defames the candidate with it. Although some would say it's just smears in general, I would argue that almost all political campaigns use smears.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

11. I'll have to remember "scrapbook"...

...I don't hear or see it much anymore, but I thought the phrase "going postal" was a good one. It could be used to good effect to get someone to calm down and check themselves: "Aw c'mon, Ray, don't go postal on me." And once it came into common usage it seemed like it wasn't very long before we stopped reading about postal carriers reporting to work and shooting up the mail room. Not saying there was necessarily causation there, but the correlation was interesting.

I would like to see the word tase and/or tasered come into use as pejoratives that when used properly shame/embarrass law enforcement agencies that have been misusing what is actually an instrument of torture.

[TheJizzaking]

8. I agree

It sounds silly. We should look forward and not backwards.