Given the original meaning of the phrase, that of default, and the current political meaning, the waning days of this Bush administration certainly fit well with “lame duck,” even if the phrase doesn’t connect with actual mallards and mergansers. In the American political sense, “lame duck” was first used in 1863 in reference to “broken-down politicians,” and the first president to be called a lame duck was Calvin Coolidge. Bernie Madoff of the $50 billion Ponzi scheme ought to qualify, as well as the hordes of Americans who have walked away from their houses when they turned out to be worth less than their mortgages. So the stock market not only has bulls and bears, but the original lame ducks.
According to my favorite bathroom reference book, “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,” the expression originally came from finance, and referred to “a stock-jobber or dealer who will not, or cannot, pay his losses” and has to “waddle out of the alley like a lame duck.” It also applies to a defaulter on a loan, and goes back to 18th-century London. The phrase did not originate in politics. So why do we refer to a “lame duck” rather than a “sitting duck” or a “wingless duck” or a “sinking duck”? Or for that matter, why not a “crippled goose” or a “feeble swan”? A lame duck might not be able to waddle well, but from what I see, ducks don’t do a lot of waddling, and a lame leg might not be that much of a handicap. On many frosty days, I see them in the Arkansas River when I’m out walking our dog. This went on and on.Īs for wild ducks, it appears that they do not all fly south for the winter. Mama would get her ducks in a row, and then the affronted collie would return. Then the collie would return to make the ducklings clump like sheep before wandering off. As soon as the collie left, the ducks would string out per their imprinting. The ducklings tried to stay in line while the resident border collie worked to bunch them up. I went duck-hunting once, but sitting quietly in a blind by the South Platte River on a winter morning was cold and boring.Ī farm friend did have a duck pond, where Mama Duck would lead her offspring to shore. It connotes a sense of being crippled, even though the lame duck still holds the full powers of office. This got me to wondering about the origin of the phrase “lame duck.” We use it to describe an office-holder whose replacement has been elected but not sworn in. Bush is still president of the United States of America, and thus in position to issue regulations, pardons and executive orders that deserve scrutiny, especially when most eyes are focused on the impending presidency of Barack Obama. Lately Maddow’s show has offered a nightly feature called “Lame Duck Watch,” which observes that George W. Nor is she full of herself like Keith Olbermann, who can elevate pomposity to stratospheric levels. She might argue with them, but she always offers them a chance to speak. Not that I always concur with her politics, but unlike most such hosts, she doesn’t badger, talk over or needlessly interrupt her guests. One of the few positive media developments in 2008 arrived after the national political conventions, when Rachel Maddow got her own nightly hour on MSNBC. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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