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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009"Countless devoiced politicians" & "[be] elected out of office"
Ladies and Gentlemen: Someone on another forum asked for the translation (from English to Chinese) of the following sentence: Countless devoiced politicians would have been elected out of office years ago had they even thought of a divorce,let alone gotten one. However, the predominantly circulated version on the Internet is slightly different: Countless _divorced_ politicians would have been elected out of office years ago had they even thought of a divorce,let alone gotten one. Which among the two makes good sense? I myself have difficulty understanding the phrase of "[be] elected out of office." Does it mean that "to be elected to removed from office"? Best Wishes Tacia >Ladies and Gentlemen: > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Which among the two makes good sense? The second one, "divorced", seems likely. "Devoiced" does not seem to mean anything in that sentence. >I myself have difficulty understanding the phrase of "[be] elected out >of office." >Does it mean that "to be elected to removed from office"? The usual wording would be "voted out of office". But I suspect that what the sentence means is that the politicians would not have been re-elected. So I think the meaning is: Countless divorced politicians would have failed to be re-elected years ago had they even thought of a divorce, let alone gotten one.  SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > >Ladies and Gentlemen: > > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > Countless divorced politicians would have failed to be re-elected > years ago had they even thought of a divorce, let alone gotten one. That's still fuzzy. I think what the author of the original sentence was trying to say was: Formerly, a politician who had even thought about a divorce, let alone gotten one, would have failed of re-election. "That's no longer true" is implicit. Also, the phrase between commas is superfluous, left in only because it's in the original. Whoever said it, if that's what he meant he has a point. A couple of examples going back to the 60s and 70s: Ronald Reagan had divorced Jane Wyman and married Nancy Davis many, many years before he ran for president. Similarly, Nelson Rockefeller's political career seemed unaffected by his ugly divorce and remarriage. I'd say it was the Sixties that lifted the taboo on divorced politicians. There are a few politicians whose marital behavior is *so* sleazy that they really should be disqualified from holding office on that ground alone. I'm not soliciting nominees, but just as an example of that sort, consider Newt Gingrich. (For those right-pondians unfamiliar with Newtie, be grateful.) SignatureBob Lieblich Still on his first wife > I'm not soliciting nominees, but just as an example of that >sort, consider Newt Gingrich. (For those right-pondians unfamiliar >with Newtie, be grateful.) Is he worth the eft? SignatureRichard Bollard Canberra Australia To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT. >> I'm not soliciting nominees, but just as an example of that >>sort, consider Newt Gingrich. (For those right-pondians unfamiliar >>with Newtie, be grateful.) > >Is he worth the eft? Ouch! SignatureJames > Ladies and Gentlemen: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > I myself have difficulty understanding the phrase of "[be] elected out > of office." Does it mean that "to be elected to removed from office"? Probably the author of this sentence misunderstands the verb VOTE as synonymous with the verb ELECT. The error casts doubt on his suitability as a writer in this context. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > > Ladies and Gentlemen: > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > VOTE as synonymous with the verb ELECT. The error casts > doubt on his suitability as a writer in this context. The author also seems to have used "thinking of a divorce" for something like "talking about getting a divorce". If politicians' thoughts affected their chances of holding office, the world would be very different. -- Jerry Friedman |
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