Australia - Mal Brough: Gillard challenges Abbott to ditch candidate over sexist menu

[dipsydoodle]

Last edited Wed Jun 12, 2013, 09:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Guardian

The prime minister has called for LNP candidate Mal Brough to be disendorsed, in a growing furore over a menu for a party fundraiser that contained crude and sexist references.

Julia Gillard rounded on the opposition leader, Tony Abbott, for standing behind the LNP’s candidate for Fisher. She also implicated Abbott in a “pattern of behaviour” culminating in a “grossly offensive and sexist menu” being produced for a fundraiser for Brough in Brisbane in late March.

“Mr Brough should be disendorsed, that’s what should happen here,” Gillard told reporters in Perth on Wednesday afternoon.

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Earlier on Wednesday Abbott criticised the offending menu which offered a dish to attendees called “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – Small Breasts, Huge Thighs & A Big Red Box”. But he said Brough should not lose preselection for the Fisher federal seat.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/julia-gillard-abbott-sexist-menu

[brooklynite]

1. My I suggest in future...

...that a story this geographically obscure be annotated? In particular, referencing the fact that this occured in Australia (notwithstanding the Guardian cite) and the candidate in question is with the Liberal National Party would be useful.

[dipsydoodle]

3. I've edited to add that.

I would however expect most here to know who Julia Gillard is.

[BlueToTheBone]

12. I'm sure most do. I wasn't

confused. But good to make sure everyone is on the same page.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. "Disendorsed"

There is no such word. Why must politicians invent words rather than use proper, existing words?

The word you want is "repudiate". Other acceptable words would be "disavow", "disaffirm" or "disconfirm"

Dictionaries people, dictionaries!

I don't think you are smarter when you use bullshit words. (speaking to idiot politicians, not the OP)

And STOP turning nouns into verbs! Buildings are designed not "architected". Dates are scheduled not "calendared" "Texting" and "emailing" someone is OK, since we have needed new words to describe communication via new technology (see "telegraph" and "phone&quot , but you cannot "message" someone any more than you can "letter" them when writing them a letter.

Sorry for the rant, but this is a pet peeve.

[RebelOne]

4. Why don't you send a rant to The Guardian?

The poster is not responsible for the wording in the article.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. Uh, I kind of made it clear I wasn't ranting

at the original poster, just about the use of non-words, and especially turning nouns into verbs, which I see a lot of business types and politicians d, thinking they are clever or hip.

[SwissTony]

5. Since it's from Australia, it could be considered valid there.

The US and UK don't have a monopoly on what is English.

Hell, you can't even agree on how to pronounce the word "tomato".

And I won't even start on US "fanny" vs UK "fanny".

Edited to add in case it's not clear: the word "box" in Australia is used to denote a woman's genital area and Gillard is a redhead.

This idiot's statement doesn't even reach the level of pond scum.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. I have consulted my Merriam Websters

and my OED and the word doesn't appear. I will consult my other dictionaries when I get home.

Pronunciations can vary, but we are talking about words that do not exist.

I have heard "box" used by Americans back in my high school days.

[SwissTony]

8. M-W is a fine American dictionary.

But what about the Macquarie (Oz)?

Dictionaries are a limited snapshot of current local English. Everyone now knows "Facebook" and "Google" as words. But they didn't exist 20 years ago. Language changes. Your (not so old) dictionary may not contain these words.

Plus new words are added every year. "Defriend" didn't exist a few years ago. So, it doesn't count?

Dictionaries are, by definition, outdated.

Language also varies between countries. Americans say "sidewalk", Brits say "pavement". And there's a whole mess of other differences.

Maybe you check M-W and/or OED for Australianisms such as "drongo". What about "arvo"? "Cozzie"? "Bogan"? "Dag"? Probably not in M-W. Doesn't mean they don't exist and are understood by just about any Ozzie.

[Kelvin Mace]

9. I'll consult my ANZ dictionaries when I get

home. The M-W and OED are my only ones in the office. I also have a nice collection of English slang dictionaries from Oxford Press covering the Commonwealth.

Yes. I am aware of the variations of English words and meaning, as my father was born in West Virginia, my mother in Dublin, Ireland, and I have relatives across Europe and the Southern US.

My point is there is no word to address removing some one from my "friend list" on Facebook, so "unfriend/defriend" became necessary. However, there are words with the meaning of "disendorse". "Schedule' has been around a long time, thus I do not have to "calendar" my dental appointment, and buildings and systems have been "designed" for years, dispensing with the non-word "architected"

Again, these words tend to come not from the populace, but from politicians/business types distorting the language for power and profit. As in the OP, we are quoting a politician.

[SwissTony]

10. It's your reliance on dictionaries that I find troubling.

English doesn't exist outside dictionaries? Is Yorkshire the same as the Queen's English? Is South African English the same as UK English? What about Ghanian?

And, finally...how does this (particular) statement from a politician distort language for power and profit? The arsehole who made the original statement was commenting on the PM's tits ("small&quot , her thighs ("huge&quot and her cunt ("red box&quot ?

[Kelvin Mace]

11. *sigh*

Fine, all words are fine. Let's abandon all rules of spelling and grammar. Let us stop writing dictionaries since they are obsolete as soon as they are printed and anyone relying on them is wasting their time.

Attempting precision in communications appears to be a fool's errand.

Just for the sake of clarification, (I know, why would I do that when words can mean anything anyone wants to claim they mean), my comments had ZERO to do with the dick making sexist remarks, it was a meta-remark.

I will confine my future remarks to LOLSpeak.

[Posteritatis]

14. Absolute linguistic prescriptivists are hilarious. (nt)

[Matilda]

15. You are quite right; 'disendorse' isn't a word, not even in the Macquarie Dictionary.

But it probably should be. If a candidate is endorsed, and can even be reindorsed, it makes perfect sense for the antonym to be 'disendorsed'.

And of course, new words become accepted into dictionaries almost always because they have already become common usage on the street, so let's hear it for 'disendorse'!

[SwissTony]

18. Kelvin, I don't think you and I are a million miles apart

"disendorsed" is an ugly construction and you suggested several alternatives, all of which I would personally prefer.

I too like my dictionaries (I've got 5 - UK, US and Oz) and rely on them often. I'm a bit of grammar Nazi myself. But I'm aware of the inherent limitations of dictionaries. Particularly when applied to countries which are not the country of origin.

But even within that country, problems can arise...

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Thanks for the laugh

it is much needed as the news is so depressing (and getting worse) of late.

I *love* Blackadder, Hugh Laurie and Robbie Coltrain.

[SwissTony]

20. My claim to fame is that I was born in the same place as Robbie Coltrane.

Last edited Thu Jun 13, 2013, 03:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Rutherglen!

Many years ago, there were two small villages situated on the banks of the River Clyde. The more important village was Rutherglen. However, the other village had a deeper harbour and was closer to the sea and soon became more important than Rutherglen. The other village grew and grew and soon encompassed Rutherglen.

The other village was called Glasgow.

Rutherglen now sits near the middle of Glasgow (about 4 kms - a nice walk), but isn't entirely a part of it (it's actually part of South Lanarkshire, but transport services etc are coordinated).

But Robbie and I were both born there. Never met the guy...Seemed bigger in Harry Potter

My other claim to fame is that I'm only six degrees from Kevin Bacon.

Edited to add: I can't spell "Coltrane". Corrected. I'm a dowally.

[roamer65]

13. Gillard needs to step down and let Kevin Rudd lead the ALP into the election.

The recent polling I have heard is that she is going to lead Labor to a large defeat. Polling with Kevin Rudd as leader made it a very close election.

For the good of your country, step aside and let Kevin Rudd be leader of the ALP, Ms Gillard.

[Matilda]

16. She'll never step down.

Having gained the leadership by a coup, she now thinks she has a right to it, and no one is going to take it from her.

But the truth is, for all his popularity and his superior ability to communicate with the public, I don't think even Kevin can save Labor at this late stage. There would be less of a bloodbath, but the odds are now too great against a Labor win.

Labor should have replaced Gillard six months ago. Better still, she should never have seized power the way she did, because that is what the Australian people haven't forgiven.

Such a shame that a landmark event - the selection of our first female PM - should have been so tainted.

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

17. The reason Julia gained power was due to a nervous Labour Party

That was touting a progressive mining tax that the large miners(literally in Gina Reinhardt's case) did not like .Fuelled by millions of dollars (tax deductable of course )and the help of a compliant press led by that C$&@ Rupert they succeeded in getting Kevin Rudd ousted and a watering down of the mining tax to the point that it was virtually revenue neutral. And as per usual the press had a field day on how little money it raised... You can't beat hypocrisy.... People in Australia can be just as gullible as anywhere else.we've got close to the best travelling economy in the world since the GFC but it's still not good enough .....the Labour Party in office pump primed the economy with money straight after the GFC saving the economy but still not good enough and now the people will vote in a retarded fuckknuckle triathlete.....unbelievable but true!!!!!

PS endorsed,re-endorsed and disendorsed are commonly used in Australia ......so tough titties language nazis!!!

[Matilda]

21. There was more to it than just Rudd's mining tax

(which was watered down later by Gillard to the point where it's next to useless as a revenue raiser).

The factions, in particular the right-wing trade union faction, hated the fact that Rudd was non-aligned. They like nothing better than to pull the strings of politicians, but Rudd wasn't beholden to anyone. So when his popularity began to slip a bit because he changed his mind on climate change legislation (his biggest mistake), they pounced. They were helped by the fact that his micro-managing style did make him a lot of enemies in caucus.

I think Australians are really pretty aware that things have been going quite well for us, but they hate Gillard. The right are going to hate her on principal, and I believe there is also a large degree of misogyny there, but on both sides of politics, the fact that she knifed her leader has never gone down well. Because of that, she's never been trusted, and the fact that she's a very poor communicator hasn't helped.

But if Federal Labor wants to avoid becoming a rump as they are in NSW and Queensland, Kevin Rudd is their only option. It's going to be very hard for many of them to swallow their pride and virtually admit that removing Rudd as they did was a mistake, but surely it's better than seeing Abbott installed as a virtual dictator?

They should make a deal – Rudd to come back and save Labor from annhilation, with a promise to retire before the following election in return for a posting as an ambassador to Washington, London, or the U.N. Meanwhile, they can groom Bill Shorten as his successor. I can't stand Shorten, but he's probably the best candidate at this stage.

[roamer65]

22. Too bad Whitlam wouldn't have a "come to Jesus" talk with her.

But he may be too old for that stuff now

And you are right, Matilda...it may be too late. I really hate to see Australia suffer under another Coalition government.