Thursday, February 19, 2004

crimes of sloganeering, continued

Another of UW-Madison's professorial bloggers has a post criticizing John Kerry for starting his acceptance speech last night with reference to Wisconsin's motto being "Forward!" Which fails to make the obvious point: what kind of weak-tea slogan for a state is "Forward!" anyway. I'm not even sure exactly which sense of "Forward!" they mean:

1. "Forward!" as in "march forward", like in the dictionary definition: "Being ahead of current economic, political, or technological trends; progressive"

2. "Forward!" as in we Wisconsinites are really presumptious folks, the kind who will ask intrusive questions or invite themselves to social events: "Lacking restraint or modesty; presumptuous or bold"

3. "Forward!" as in if you have recently arrived in Wisconsin, you should immediately re-direct yourself to some other location: "To send on to a subsequent destination or address"

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