Dave Spart

English

Etymology

Coined by Private Eye, playing on the word Spartacist (“a member of the International Communist League”).

Noun

Dave Spart (plural Dave Sparts)

1. (UK) A far left radical.

   Synonym: Spart

   • 1981, Reyner Banham, Design by Choice, London: Academy Editions:

     Now every Dave Spart up the commune knows that basically, to his mind, the only, like, real theatre, man, is made by the people, you know, in the street, man, in the street.

   • 1984, The Spectator:

     But of course there is no shortage of people with ingenious ideas about how public money should be spent, and Ken is quite right when he warns us about a whole new generation of Dave Sparts currently working up from the grass roots

   • 1992, New Statesman Society:

     We don't get many Dave Sparts these days chopping hands, invoking the working class and using the word "total" twice in every sentence.

   • 2000, Overland:

     Like McGuinness, Wark's Left is populated by a cast of grotesques; of Dave Sparts who sleep with copies of Trotsky's Literature and Revolution tucked under their pillows.

Derived terms

• Spartist

See also

• Bufton Tufton

Anagrams

• vardapets