The language of the Presidential election campaign continues to intrigue nearly as much as the result of the New Hampshire Democratic primary, for those who read the polls (as did many in the News Hour office – see here for one of the world’s least surprising surveys). Following her victory in the Granite State, Hillary is on a comeback roll, but she is not the ‘comeback kid’ as her husband was when he emerged from New Hampshire with winning credentials, even though he actually lost the primary to Paul Efthemios Tsongas (a former Massachusetts senator who had returned from illness to fight for the nomination). While such a term suited her roguish husband down to the ground, it doesn’t sit right with Hillary, however emotional she may be allowing herself to be – although she was careful to insert the word into her victory speech, echoing past triumphs.
Republican victor John McCain was keen to rule himself out of any label relating to ‘kid’ whatsoever, remarking that he was too old for the moniker no matter what word preceded it. McCain is 71, and on familiar ground. In 2000, he trounced George Bush in New Hampshire, stealing 49 per cent of the vote to Bush’s 30 – we all know that didn’t end well, so the Arizona senator is probably wary of jumping the gun.
Still, his age frames the language used about him in intriguing ways. ‘Republican race given new as McCain comes back from the dead’ remarked the Times, overselling what really would be a story. Why not bring back all the allstars and have a clash of the titans? Invent a time machine and run the candidates from different eras head-to-head across the states. Kennedy, Lincoln, Nixon, Dole…now that’d be a reality show worth watching.
The trend continues with comment on McCain’s campaign being ‘rejuvenated’ by the win, where it was previously said to be ‘comatose’. Were Hillary’s campaign in trouble, as many of the first editions of the British press thought it was this morning, it would more likely be ‘crumbling.’
Language and its suitability is a key and easily overlooked indicator to trends in society. Many in the News Hour office were astounded to learn that Sony’s wackily-named Blu-ray high definition DVDs (the name comes from the blue laser used to read the discs) were stealing the edge on Toshiba’s HD-DVD after securing the backing of Warner Bros. Blu-ray makes more sense, in many ways – the capacity is higher, and it has the region encoding which HD-DVD lacks, allowing the studios to retain their arcane, staggered release system. Even Paramount, one of two big studios still with HD-DVD, seems to be wobbling on the high definition fence.
“Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format.”
Note the use of ‘current’. Still, if VHS vs Betamax has taught us anything, it is that the system with the less functional and more funky name rarely triumphs. HD-DVD fits in so much better to the lexicon, and makes much more sense in marketing terms. People understand what it is instantly. Perhaps the freaks are set to inherit the Earth after all.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 