PUMA (minicast) - 8 Dec. 2008

We're continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008. Last week we talked about "ground game."<br/><br/>Another political term that we crossed paths with was PUMA. <br/><br/>PUMA is an acronym for Party Unity My Ass, which began as a Facebook group.<br/><br/>Members of that group were Democrats who were disaffected after Hillary Clinton failed to secure a sufficient number of delegates to win the Democratic nomination. <br/><br/>Some of these disaffected Democrats formed groups and committees in order to try to bring the matter to a head-to-head smackdown vote at the national convention.<br/><br/>Other PUMAs, as they call themselves, switched allegiances completely and came out in favor of Republican candidate John McCain.<br/><br/>The PUMA umbrella name was widely embraced by the Republicans and was even seen as a false front for true Republicans masquerading as ex-Democrats in order to lure fence-sitting Clinton supporters over to McCain.<br/><br/>As the PUMA movement grew--its true size is not really known--the acronym was revisited and it began to be said that it stood for the much more politer Party Unity Means Action.<br/><br/>The PUMA organization became increasingly irrelevant when Hillary Clinton acknowledged Barack Obama would be the party's nominee. <br/><br/>We may have to wait another four years to see if the term is revived.<br/><br/>That's all about "PUMA." Next week we'll talk about the "hockey mom."<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.<br type="_moz"/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.waywordradio.org/~f/awwwpodcast?a=bd1QJjlP"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/awwwpodcast?d=41" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.waywordradio.org/~f/awwwpodcast?a=dEaUls42"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/awwwpodcast?d=52" border="0"></img></a> <a hr