Snollygoster – Wacky Word Wednesday

The media never seems to run out of political stories—abuse of power, negative campaign, social unrest. So on today’s edition of Wacky Word Wednesday, why don’t we delve into the world of politics? Here’s this week’s lemma:

snollygoster [snol-ee-gos-ter] noun/adj Somebody, especially a politician, whose actions are motivated by self-interest rather than by high principles.

Snollygoster has been around in the American political lexicon since the 1840s. Merriam Webster defines it as an unprincipled but shrewd person and it’s used to describe a person, especially a politician, who does things for their own gain. Its origin is unknown, but etymologists suggested that snollygoster may come from German schnelle geister, ‘quick spirit.’

Snollygoster was popularized by Georgia Democrat H. J. W. Ham who traveled around the country during the 1890s with a stump speech titled “The Snollygoster in Politics.” Ham defined a snollygoster as a “place-hunting demagogue” or a “political hypocrite.” President Harry S Truman also used it during his 1952 reelection campaign when he denounced Republican “snollygosters,” in front of the press corps and said, “Better look that word up, it’s a good one.”

Snollygoster is not to be confused with snallygaster, a mythical dragonlike beast—half bird, half reptile—supposedly found in Maryland. According to legend, German immigrants who settled in Western Maryland and Southern Pennsylvnia in the 1700s brought not only their culture, but also their monsters, the snallygaster being one of them. The beast was said to prey on small farm animals, pets and even young children. The legend was resurrected in the nineteenth century to terrify freed slaves out of voting. Snallygaster was also a name of a beverage composed of vanilla ice cream and Mountain Dew.

As usual, we’ve provided a few sentence examples using snollygoster:

• I suspect that what really irritated the Labour representative is that I called for him to publish his expenses so that all Gloucester voters could see that he isn’t a snollygoster. (Richard Graham)

• The snollygoster was kicked out of office when he was caught taking kickbacks. (Fatwallet.com)

If you think snollygosters are unfit to lead and need to be voted out of office, then you might agree with David, the psalmist, who wrote, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” (Psalm 29:2)

If you’re interested in learning more wacky words, make sure to visit csoftintl.com!