Cindi’s got another column on tomorrow’s page that involves the S.C. legislative practice of "bobtailing." As usual, she uses the term as though it makes perfect sense, although it doesn’t.
Cindi defends the word as one that has meaning within the context of the State House, and she has enough of a point that I leave the term in when she uses it (Hey — you try to argue her out of it). Cindi uses the term because, as she put it, That’s what they call it, so that’s what it is. I’m grateful that in one recent column, she at least put the term, as used by S.C. lawmakers, in quotation marks.
Yes, if we’re going to describe what these folks do we need to use the lingo, but this is just an example of our lawmakers abusing language. They use the term to refer to ADDING something, or somethings, to a bill — something that doesn’t belong there. In the English language, the term "bobtail" indicates that something has been TAKEN AWAY — or mostly taken away.
To "bob" a tail is to cut most of it off. It applies to things other than hair, of course (I refer you to Fitzgerald’s "Bernice Bobs Her Hair.") A Bobtail Cat is so called because he has a mere stump of a tail.
Far more accurately descriptive is the "Christmas Tree" metaphor, of hanging amendments on a bill in the manner of ornaments. Unfortunately, in South Carolina, "bobtailing" is what they call it. I just thought I’d point out that they are WRONG to call it that.
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I could have added — but didn’t, on account of the fact that Cindi’s office is next door to mine, and I sit with my back to the door, and she’s a quiet walker — that trying to argue that "bobtailing" shouldn’t be used this way makes me feel a little like Adam’s problem with Eve in Mark Twain’s "Extracts from Adam’s Diary:"
The difference, of course, is that what lawmakers do doesn’t LOOK like bobtailing…
You could have added the additional comment, but you didn’t, that is until you did. Is there a word for that?
The term comes from shipping.
In drayage, a bobtail is the power without the load:
horse team and tree unhitched from a wagon,
truck tractor without a trailer,
locomotive without a boxcar or other cargo car.
This term makes sense when it was coined. Switching loads in a yard from a locomotive to a tender is called “bobtailing the load”. That’s what the legislators are doing; decoupling parts of a bill and attaching them to another, unrealted bill in order to sneak them into the law without debate.
A lot of these terms are wrong, because they come from engineering or some technical field, sound good to a reporter, and become common parlance. “Gridlock”, for example, refers to traffic in cross streets all trying to move at once. The misapplication to legislative process refers to no one trying to move any legislation. There is a difference.
The below came from an article recently in The State about a law that was passed that bobtailed.
Fuel suppliers contend South Carolina’s law is illegal because it was tacked
on in late May to an unrelated bill establishing sales tax holidays.
Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell warned legislators as they overrode
Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto Wednesday that it violated the single-subject rule
and would end up in court. The state Supreme Court has previously struck
down such “bobtailing” measures, most recently last week.
“This was the clearest example of bobtailing I’ve seen in 18 years here,”
said Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville.
Supporters of the law said they didn’t have time to get a separate bill
through legislative committees after BP’s letter to distributors. If the
state Supreme Court strikes the measure down, the distributors and retailers
are ready for round two.
“We will have bill ready to go before the session opens in January,” said
Sam Bell, president of Echols Oil Co. and the South Carolina Petroleum
Marketers Association. “I hope the oil companies work with us over the next
few months to come up with something that will work. That would be the smart
thing.”
I hope citizens sue and overturn every piece of bobtail legislation.
There need to be fines for legislators who created this mess.
So you complain about the origin of “bobtail” and spell “yes, sirree” or “yes sirree” wrong.
Please don’t tell me you did it to be ironic, Mr. W.
It’s “sirree” or “siree” (though that looks wrong to me), but you won’t find a dictionary that makes it one word, though you might find references on the Web that make your mistake.
Yes, sirree, Mr. Warthen. That’s the truth.
Wow, I was really impressed by Lee’s description of the origins of bobtail. Turns out he was wrong on even this. Bobtail originated as a term to describe a shortened animal tail. It’s not a shipping term, although both the shipping and trucking industry have adopted the term.
As for the legislative usage, that’s something that will eventually be accepted usage. I find it rather curious when people object to a particular usage of a term by suggesting it isn’t accurate. That’s how our language evolves. It’s sort of like the evolution of life. Life evolves whenever chromosomes mutate. A new life form results from the mutation that is different from the original and it eventually becomes a new species. Language does the same thing. Otherwise we’d still be speaking Latin.
Somewhat unrelated, I do remember that Bob Sheheen hated the term, especially because he was opposed to the practice.
“It’s not a shipping term, although both the shipping and trucking industry have adopted the term.”
Thank you, bud. Years from now, that sentence may yield a valuable clue into the mystical thinking process of the extinct American liberal, once Al Gore and his ilk have bilked them all and led the flock like lemmings into the sea.
By liberal logic, then, “Gamecock” is not a University of South Carolina term, although both USC and at least one other university have adopted it, and “ball” is not a ping-pong term, because the word originated elsewhere.
That means “post” is not a blogging term, either, but I’m posting this anyway.
“It’s not a shipping term, although both the shipping and trucking industry have adopted the term.”
Thank you, bud. Years from now, that sentence may yield a valuable clue into the mystical thinking process of the extinct American liberal, once Al Gore and his ilk have bilked them all and led the flock like lemmings into the sea.
By liberal logic, then, “Gamecock” is not a University of South Carolina term, although both USC and at least one other university have adopted it, and “ball” is not a ping-pong term, because the word originated elsewhere.
That means “post” is not a blogging term, either, but I’m posting this anyway.
Actually, Lee’s explanation made some sense…
Should I go lie down with a cool cloth on my forehead?
…oh, and I got the spelling of yesirree from the internet, but it DOES make sense to add an S. (I’ve gone back and corrected the headline accordingly.)
I’ve always liked that expression, which I believe is Southern, but then I tend to assume anything colloquial-sounding that I heard as a child is Southern.
It’s an expression of super-duper-extreme emphasis. “Yes” would do, but “yes, sir” is more emphatic. “Yessirree” is more so, but that is exceeded by “Yessireee, Bob!” What I used was the ULTIMATE emphasis, to the fifth power of enthusiasm.
bud, you lie simply to smear, again.
I am a consultant in the area of logisitics, and have worked for 25 years in automating and integrating rail, truck and ocean shipping systems.
You work some unknown job for the state government, and don’t even use your real name.
Have to agree with Lee. My father was in the trucking business for thirty years. The term “bobtailing” was used by him all the time.
Like I said, the explanation makes sense…
Actually, if “bobtailing” were “coattailing” with respect to legislation, it might make some sense. But, since everyone knows what it means anyway, it can make perfect cents with respect to earmarks. I mean, either it smells bad, or it makes good scents.
Hopefully, the lawsuits in SC will nullify all the legislation ever passed by attaching it to bill with a totally different (alleged) purpose.
The US Constitution needs a similar amendment to limit bills to one subject. Anything in the bill unrelated to the title is null and void.
We also need mandatory roll call votes on everything.
And make every legislator sign an oath that he has personally read and understood every page of every bill, under penalty of perjury.
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