dog whistle
- noun
- /dɔg ˈwɪsəl/
- Literature
:
silbato político
- After almost four years of innuendo and obvious dog whistles by the GOP, I'm not surprised at the racial animus.
But people say that's a dog whistle as if they're highly trained anti Nazis.
- But people say that's a dog whistle as if they're highly trained anti Nazis.
- And it was a hoodwink, a racist type dog whistle about Barack Obama trying to make him less American in the middle name Hussein, to make him seem like he's a terrorist.
Examples
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Speaker, his government's vile and immoral refugee ban bill and the toxic language coming from the Home Office isn't even dog whistle politics.
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More likely a dog whistle for Democrats.
Blog text (14) -
The politician's speech contained a dog whistle that appealed to his core supporters without alienating moderates.
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Critics argue that the mayor's comments were a dog whistle meant to signal to certain voter groups.
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Some analysts believe his words were merely a dog whistle to distract from more pressing issues.
Synonyms
A way of saying things that hides a message for a certain group
How Obvious
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog + whistle
The literal constituents ('dog' + 'whistle') yield a clear physical object (a whistle that dogs can hear), but the political meaning—an indirect, coded message perceived only by a target audience—is a metaphorical, culturally specific extension that is not derivable from the parts. A B1 learner who knows the words would most likely interpret the phrase literally and would not infer the secondary political sense without prior exposure or sociopolitical knowledge.
Etymology
Dog whistle comes from a small tool used for dogs: the whistle makes a very high sound that dogs can hear but many people cannot. So a 'dog whistle' in speech is a normal phrase that carries a 'hidden message' only a certain group of people hears and understands.