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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Back-channel?
From todyay's Guardian report of what's going on at Mitchell & Butler: "Meanwhile, back-channel peace talks are understood to have begun last week and continued over the weekend." http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/10/mitchells-butlers-joe-lewis-talks "Back-channel" is new to me. Why not "private"?  SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) On 11 Jan 2010, LFS wrote > From todyay's Guardian report of what's going on at Mitchell & > Butler: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > "Back-channel" is new to me. Why not "private"? I could be entirely wrong, but I'd assume it meant something more than that -- discussions which were not only held in private, but between unofficial surrogates for the main players or other slightly- irregular means of contact. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed >On 11 Jan 2010, LFS wrote > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >between unofficial surrogates for the main players or other slightly- >irregular means of contact. Indeed. OED: back channel, n. 2. orig. N. Amer. Polit. A means of communication which circumvents official channels, esp. in order to facilitate informal or clandestine negotiations. Freq. attrib. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>On 11 Jan 2010, LFS wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > official channels, esp. in order to facilitate informal or > clandestine negotiations. Freq. attrib. It's a term any American would recognize. We send someone with no protfolio but with good connections to meet out of the public view with a similar rep from the other party. One can float ideas and sound out what will be possible or not with no prestige on the line. >>On 11 Jan 2010, LFS wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > official channels, esp. in order to facilitate informal or > clandestine negotiations. Freq. attrib. Back channels is frequently heard in the C³I worlds of the U.S. military and the State Department. The term sometimes filters down to newspaper reporters, as a result. SignatureRegards, Chuck Riggs, An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE |
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