GERRYMANDERING
The Origin of Gerrymander
Originally published in the February 2012 Voter.
"The word gerrymander is first found in 1812."From: 'The Mavens' Word of the Day - February 2, 1999' as posted at: www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990202
"The word gerrymander is an American political term that William Safire has called 'one of the most triumphant political expressions.'
"To gerrymander is to divide an area into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible. In short, gerrymandering is designing a district to fit a voting pattern.
"The word gerrymander is a portmanteau from the name of Elbridge Gerry and salamander. Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts when he signed a bill in 1812 to redraw the district boundaries to favor the Democrats and weaken the Federalists, who had better numbers at the voting booth. The shape of the district he formed was likened in appearance to a salamander, and political cartoonists emphasized that appearance to denigrate the Democrats. Gerry did not sponsor the bill in question and was said to have signed it reluctantly, but his name has gone into history as that of a villain.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that extreme examples of gerrymandering--in the case they looked at, an election district was literally one road wide at one point, as the district meandered around to try to grab voters from another area--are unconstitutional, but what is allowed is still an open question.*
"There is a pronunciation issue regarding the word gerrymander. Governor Gerry's name was pronounced with a hard g, and in the nineteenth century gerrymander was likewise pronounced with a hard g. However, by analogy with the common name Jerry (sometimes spelled Gerry), our word is now almost always pronounced with a soft g, and is sometimes even spelled jerrymander. I have never heard anyone pronounce it with a hard g, nor has the Random House pronunciation editor, but I might as well mention it since some people bring it up."
* As recently as 2018, the Supreme Court refused to rule on partisan gerrymandering. For more on this ruling, see:
Originally published in the February 2012 Voter.
"The word gerrymander is first found in 1812."From: 'The Mavens' Word of the Day - February 2, 1999' as posted at: www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990202
"The word gerrymander is an American political term that William Safire has called 'one of the most triumphant political expressions.'
"To gerrymander is to divide an area into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible. In short, gerrymandering is designing a district to fit a voting pattern.
"The word gerrymander is a portmanteau from the name of Elbridge Gerry and salamander. Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts when he signed a bill in 1812 to redraw the district boundaries to favor the Democrats and weaken the Federalists, who had better numbers at the voting booth. The shape of the district he formed was likened in appearance to a salamander, and political cartoonists emphasized that appearance to denigrate the Democrats. Gerry did not sponsor the bill in question and was said to have signed it reluctantly, but his name has gone into history as that of a villain.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that extreme examples of gerrymandering--in the case they looked at, an election district was literally one road wide at one point, as the district meandered around to try to grab voters from another area--are unconstitutional, but what is allowed is still an open question.*
"There is a pronunciation issue regarding the word gerrymander. Governor Gerry's name was pronounced with a hard g, and in the nineteenth century gerrymander was likewise pronounced with a hard g. However, by analogy with the common name Jerry (sometimes spelled Gerry), our word is now almost always pronounced with a soft g, and is sometimes even spelled jerrymander. I have never heard anyone pronounce it with a hard g, nor has the Random House pronunciation editor, but I might as well mention it since some people bring it up."
* As recently as 2018, the Supreme Court refused to rule on partisan gerrymandering. For more on this ruling, see:
