You no longer have to be a rock star to be a rock star.
The Associated Press quoted Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, saying of Barack Obama, the freshman senator from Illinois, "He's one of the Democratic Party's few rock stars. Hillary Clinton would be another, and it's hard to name a third."
A week later, Obama appeared at the annual white-tie, stuffed-shirt gathering of the Gridiron Club. Speaking for the Democrats, he made a few gentle jokes and took an oratorical gamble by singing a song, which he carried off well. He thanked the assemblage of press pooh-bahs for all the favorable publicity on his arrival and graciously concluded by saying that when he accomplished something, he'd get back to us. A veteran journalist at my table said of the multiracial, multitalented politician: "This guy has rock star written all over him."
In bidding the US Federal Reserve chairman farewell, President George W. Bush said: "Alan Greenspan is perhaps the only central banker to achieve what one publication called `rock-star status'" (the publication that Bush took pains not to plug was The Economist).
The original meaning can be found in a 1964 Chicago Defender ad: "In person ... Major Lance, Marvin Gaye and 38 big `rock' stars!" But as these recent examples show, the phrase has gained a meaning once removed from loud music, dancing gyrations and wildly enthusiastic fans.
At Merriam-Webster, the file on the use of rock star applied to someone not famous for such activity begins with a 1991 citation about Stephen King, described as "a rock star of an author -- his horror movies routinely go multiplatinum, and his byline operates like a brand name."
The lexicographer James Lowe informs me that Merriam-Webster is considering including the phrase to denote someone who is not famous for rock music performance in its next Collegiate edition: "We have found the term used also to refer to politicians, football players, tennis players, rodeo champions, environmental activists and most recently to Senator Hillary Clinton" -- in fact, anyone "who has charisma that arouses popularity. A tentative definition might be `a person who has achieved the status of a celebrity in a particular field.'"
They have been watching the semantic leap over at the Oxford English Dictionary, too.
I put my theory that this phrase is replacing the voguish icon or superstar to Katherine Martin at the OED. "I think it offers different connotations," she countered. "Icon implies longevity; superstar suggests substance; rock star is about image. For that reason, it seems often to be used with mildly satirical intent."
She agreed that the meaning of the term, applied to nonrock stars, goes well beyond mere celebrity or plain-vanilla stardom.
But Martin's nice Fingerspitzengefuehl about connotation is worth following: "Particularly in its use to describe politicians, I think the implication is that their popularity is somewhat faddish and transitory. Referring to somebody as a rock star rather than merely a star also seems sometimes to suggest that they possess a level of celebrity that is unseemly for their field." This is generated by "the tendency of the media to regard all figures through the lens of entertainment."
Martin observes that "the term movie star fails to elicit images of a frenzied adolescent mob. That's the kind of fame we are talking about with rock star: the type of dynamic public figure people tend to toss their panties at," this perceptive semanticist notes, adding primly, "metaphorically speaking."
INFRA DIG
"We can't trust Dubai with our critical infrastructure," said Republican Representative Duncan Hunter, attacking the Bush administration for -- in more understandable terms -- "the ports deal."
The mouth-filling phrase was enshrined in bureaucratese by former US president Bill Clinton's 1996 executive order titled "Critical Infrastructure Protection," establishing a commission of the same name. It was defined as "telecommunications, electrical power systems, gas and oil storage and transportation" and a bunch of other services ending with "continuity of government."
What makes an infrastructure officially critical? Answer from the commission's final report in 1997: "so vital that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on defense or economic security."
In 2001, the phrase was dusted off and used again as the title of Section 1016 of the Patriot Act: Critical Infrastructures Protection, defined as "systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such ... would have a debilitating impact on security." Effect was changed to impact.
Infra is Latin for "below, inferior to"; it is best known for its use in "infra dig," which means "beneath one's dignity." Infrastructure was introduced into wonkish political jargon by Emanuel Shinwell, Labor's minister of defense, in the House of Commons in 1950. The Conservative Winston Churchill rose to give warning: "As to this new word with which he has dignified our language" -- a subtle play on infra dig -- "we must have full opportunity to consider it and to consult the dictionary."
When the word was used again in Commons, Churchill sallied forth in relentless ridicule: "In this debate we have had the usual jargon about `the infrastructure of a supranational authority.' ... It may well be that these words infra and supra have been introduced into our current political parlance by the band of intellectual highbrows who are naturally anxious to impress British Labor with the fact that they learned Latin at Winchester."
In the US, Bill Clinton picked up the wonkism in his 1992 campaign, urging "investment in our infrastructure." But no Churchill rose in the Republican ranks to be witheringly critical.
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