This has been an eventful week, with the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, and of course the formal nomination of John McCain as the Republican Presidential nominee.
Hmmm. So will this week's word be "vet" or "maverick"? Hmmm... What the hell, let's do them both.
"Vet", in the sense of "to subject to a political background check" seems to be a relative newcomer to English. In fact, there seems to be some confusion as to whether it should be spelled "vett" or "vet" in this context. Based on the most common understanding of this word, "vet" is most likely correct.
One oft-cited etymology of the political sense of "vet" is that it comes from the verb "vet" as in, "to examine or treat [an animal] in one's capacity as a veterinarian." This use of "vet" dates to the closing years of the nineteenth century. How it came to be used to mean a "background check" is not, to my knowledge, attested to by scholarship, but the folk etymology runs like this: At a racetrack, horses are examined by veterinarians, who certify that the horses are fit to run and that they have not been illegally doped. The problem I have with this story is that compendia of turf slang or terminology don't seem to include it. One can find "vet's list" but not "vet", although perhaps this is because it is considered a common English word.
Since we already talk about elections as horse races, Runyonesque language and metaphors naturally lend themselves to discussing them. For example: By exciting the evangelical and conservative base, John McCain has achieved everything he could reasonably hope for with this dark horse pick. No matter how the pundit tipsters handicap this double, John McCain is still the key horse on this ticket.
The language of the racetrack is wonderfully evocative, but unfortunately incomprehensible or misleading to the general public. A "hung horse" for example, is a horse that trails the leader and just can't make up the distance. Others are perhaps too earthy ("broken maiden") or condescending ("filly") for dignified use. However, there are a number of usable, if obscure gems. A "dodgepot" is a horse with a history of being heavily favored, but meeting mixed success. This is a word to watch, because it is also gaining currency to describe an eccentric or quirky person.
Here are few others that might prove useful:
"Backed-in" :describes a horse that has been so heavily bet upon that the payout odds have been shortened. An "unbackable" horse is one that has been so heavily "backed in" that wagers aren't worth making.
To "lug-in" : when a tiring horse can no longer run a straight course and meanders from side to side.
"Morning Glory" : a horse that deceives handicappers by looking strong during morning exercise but runs poorly in the actual race.
"Mudder"/"Mudlark" : a horse that excels on a muddy track.
"To prop" : to stand flat footed or be caught sideways coming out of the gate.
"Rank" : a horse that is pugnacious and unmanageable by its rider.
"Shadow roll" : a roll of wool placed on a horse's face to keep it from being startled by its own shadow as it runs. [think reconfiguring the RNC stage]
"Sex allowance" : in handicapped races, a 30 lb advantage given to fillies.
Now on to "maverick". "Maverick" is an eponym, like "lynch" or "boycott" -- a word derived from a person's name. In this case, the person in question was Samuel A. Maverick, an early Texas land speculator and later a rancher. As the story goes, Mr. Maverick, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, refused to brand his cattle, claiming it was inhumane. His actual motivation reportedly was to lay claim to any of his neighbor's cattle that escaped branding. This is attested to by the 1885 autobiography of one Charlie Siringo, a cowboy and later famous Pinkerton detective, who called Maverick, "a chickenhearted old rooster, who wouldn't brand or earmark any of his cattle... [The] chickenhearted old rooster went on claiming everything with smooth ears."
To be fair, there are other versions of the story of the "maverick" eponym that are supposedly more flattering to Samuel Maverick. One version of the story cited in 1938 blames the lack of branding on Maverick's cattle on the laziness of his Negro slaves. However, given that Mr. Maverick rose to the top of the cutthroat land speculation game one can more easily believe that he was particularly cunning businessman than that he was simply a lax master.
So, a "maverick" is an unbranded calf, cow or steer, and "mavericking" is making a living by rounding up and claiming such cattle.
Now here is an important point about the "maverick" metaphor that is often overlooked. A "maverick" cow is one that bears nobody's brand, and therefore belongs to nobody. However, belonging to nobody is not the same as belonging to everybody. A maverick actually belongs to the first person who bothers to round it up and put his brand on it.
So, setting aside the obvious taraddidle about the FBI vetting Governor Palin (they don't do this for political candidates -- or at least claim not to), let us assume that Senator McCain's staff did vet Governor Palin. Let's assume that they did know about her connections to the lunatic AIP. Let's assume that they had a reasonably accurate idea of who this choice would sway, and that this did not include Hillary Clinton voters, or political moderates. Let's assume, in short, that the McCain campaign went about this pick competently, and that their choice reflects deliberation.
Whose brand is the erstwhile maverick wearing now?