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From donkey vote to hustings, incumbency, and pork barrelling, there are several phrases that get used more often every time there’s an upcoming election, but what do they mean and where do they come from?
While a lot of people don't give these phrases a second thought, for many in our community, political lingo can sound like a foreign language.
Highlights
- Political lingo can sound like a foreign language.
- ANDC Director Amanda Laugesen says the language used surrounding politics and during election time comes from a variety of places and is often influenced by what’s happening in our part of the world.
- Expressions used by politicians can be dangerous during election time, as they can be used against them
Algene Cruz is an electrical engineer based in Brisbane; he migrated to Australia from the Philippines three years ago and still struggles with political jargon.
“On the slang words, literally, almost all of them I can’t really understand. It's a bit funny because whenever I'm speaking to any Australians, and they're using slang, it sometimes gives me some time to understand what they're really saying. But, it will be awesome if I could just really get used to it. So I can pretty much understand whatever they are saying.”
So let’s break down some of the more commonly used words you may hear leading up to the federal election starting with 'democracy sausage' - what is it?
The short answer is a sausage sandwich also known as a sausage sizzle, which a voter can obtain at a polling booth on election day, but there’s more to it.
La Trobe University Emeritus Professor and author Judith Brett says there’s an interesting origin to the phrase, which arose around 2012.
"A group of young people on social media used the term democracy sausage to talk about where it was possible to buy a sausage for breakfast when you were having a vote. And the term took off.”
