by Andy December 20, 2005
by andy May 28, 2004
An attachment of strong, intense emotional energies to an issue, person, concept, etc., in such a way that one pays special attention to issues surrounding it and one reacts strongly to discussions and changes affecting it. Includes, but is not limited to, sexual and sublimated sexual attachments.
The term is psychoanalytic in origin and is widely used in cultural studies.
The term is psychoanalytic in origin and is widely used in cultural studies.
Right-wingers often have a strong libidinal investment in the idea of authority, so that they experience threats to authority almost as if they are threatened personally. This may be due to an Oedipal fixation in which their sense of personal identity fuses with that of the father, as threatening authority-figure, so as to enable the repression of castration-threat anxiety.
by Andy May 09, 2004
A swear-word/euphemism used on the TV show Red Dwarf, as an alternative to smeghead. Only used occasionally, and more aggressively than "smeghead", its range of use seems to be equivalent to fucker.
by Andy April 19, 2004
If an event is said to occur in Outer Mongolia, it quite often means it happens somewhere obscure and hard to find.
If a person is "sent to Outer Mongolia", it means they are effectively relieved of all real power and influence and given a symbolically important but practically meaningless post.
The term refers to the state of Mongolia (in east Asia), a sparsely populated and geopolitically insignificant country inbetween China and Russia. It had a revolution in the early 1920s and effectively became a Soviet satellite state, while never actually being incorporated into the USSR (a model of the later policy in eastern Europe). Although officially designated "Mongolia", it is sometimes called Outer Mongolia because a region known as Inner Mongolia is part of the state of China.
The term gained its present uses because the Soviet foreign minister Molotov, after being relieved of his duties, was appointed as ambassador to Mongolia. This was a pointless role because, being a puppet state and politically insignificant, there were no problematic issues for a diplomat in Mongolia to take care of. In effect, Molotov was sacked but without losing his status or perks; he was simply taken away from the centre of power. This happened in the early years of the Khrushchev regime, soon after the death of Stalin, because Molotov and several others had lost out in bids to become General Secretary (i.e. top dog). Rather than have his rivals shot once they were defeated, Khrushchev adopted the policy of shunting them off into useless and powerless but well-paid posts (another rival, Malenkov, was made head of a factory in Siberia).
(By the way, yes Molotov did invent the "cocktail" which bears his name - he was responsible for mass-producing them in lemonade factories during World War II).
If a person is "sent to Outer Mongolia", it means they are effectively relieved of all real power and influence and given a symbolically important but practically meaningless post.
The term refers to the state of Mongolia (in east Asia), a sparsely populated and geopolitically insignificant country inbetween China and Russia. It had a revolution in the early 1920s and effectively became a Soviet satellite state, while never actually being incorporated into the USSR (a model of the later policy in eastern Europe). Although officially designated "Mongolia", it is sometimes called Outer Mongolia because a region known as Inner Mongolia is part of the state of China.
The term gained its present uses because the Soviet foreign minister Molotov, after being relieved of his duties, was appointed as ambassador to Mongolia. This was a pointless role because, being a puppet state and politically insignificant, there were no problematic issues for a diplomat in Mongolia to take care of. In effect, Molotov was sacked but without losing his status or perks; he was simply taken away from the centre of power. This happened in the early years of the Khrushchev regime, soon after the death of Stalin, because Molotov and several others had lost out in bids to become General Secretary (i.e. top dog). Rather than have his rivals shot once they were defeated, Khrushchev adopted the policy of shunting them off into useless and powerless but well-paid posts (another rival, Malenkov, was made head of a factory in Siberia).
(By the way, yes Molotov did invent the "cocktail" which bears his name - he was responsible for mass-producing them in lemonade factories during World War II).
Clare Short was sent to Outer Mongolia in the Cabinet reshuffle, being sent to the Department for Overseas Aid.
I can't believe they put this lecture in Outer Mongolia (i.e. on the far side of the campus from the usual venue).
I can't believe they put this lecture in Outer Mongolia (i.e. on the far side of the campus from the usual venue).
by Andy April 20, 2004
A hardline Stalinist. A tankie is a member of a communist group or a "fellow traveller" (sympathiser) who believes fully in the political system of the Soviet Union and defends/defended the actions of the Soviet Union and other accredited states (China, Serbia, etc.) to the hilt, even in cases where other communists criticise their policies or actions. For instance, such a person favours overseas interventions by Soviet-style states, defends these regimes when they engage in human rights violations, and wishes to establish a similar system in other countries such as Britain and America.
The term is used to distinguish the rare individuals with these kinds of beliefs from communists more broadly (including Communist Party members), whose adherence to Soviet doctrine and attachment to existing "socialist" states is somewhat weaker.
It is always more-or-less abusive in the sense that those termed tankies do not use the term themselves, but it doesn't have any particular bite (unlike, say, Trot).
The term derives from the fact that the divisions within the communist movement first arose when the Soviet Union sent tanks into communist Hungary in 1956, to crush an attempt to establish an alternative version of communism which was not embraced by the Russians. Most communists outside the eastern bloc opposed this action and criticised the Soviet Union. The "tankies" were those who said "send the tanks in".
The epithet has stuck because tankies also supported "sending the tanks in" in cases such as Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Bosnia and Kosovo/a (in the case of the Serbian state), and so on (whereas the rest of the communist movement has gravitated towards anti-militarism).
The term is used to distinguish the rare individuals with these kinds of beliefs from communists more broadly (including Communist Party members), whose adherence to Soviet doctrine and attachment to existing "socialist" states is somewhat weaker.
It is always more-or-less abusive in the sense that those termed tankies do not use the term themselves, but it doesn't have any particular bite (unlike, say, Trot).
The term derives from the fact that the divisions within the communist movement first arose when the Soviet Union sent tanks into communist Hungary in 1956, to crush an attempt to establish an alternative version of communism which was not embraced by the Russians. Most communists outside the eastern bloc opposed this action and criticised the Soviet Union. The "tankies" were those who said "send the tanks in".
The epithet has stuck because tankies also supported "sending the tanks in" in cases such as Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Bosnia and Kosovo/a (in the case of the Serbian state), and so on (whereas the rest of the communist movement has gravitated towards anti-militarism).
I wouldn't be surprised if the tankies even defend Saddam Hussein.
Some of the people round George W Bush used to be left-wing, but they haven't really changed their views much; they were mostly tankies.
Some of the people round George W Bush used to be left-wing, but they haven't really changed their views much; they were mostly tankies.
by Andy April 20, 2004
by Andy February 12, 2005