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dog whistle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Dog whistle

Alternative forms

Etymology

dog +‎ whistle. The figurative senses derive from the whistle's sound frequency, which is too high to be heard by human but can be heard by dogs.

Noun

dog whistle (plural dog whistles)

  1. A high-pitched whistle, generally inaudible to humans, used to train dogs.
    Synonyms: silent whistle, Galton's whistle
  2. (figurative) That which is understood only by a narrow demographic.
    • 2012, 22 March, Scott Tobias, AV Club Cabin Boy[1]
      But like a lot of these cult comedies, Cabin Boy was a dog whistle few could hear, and critics and audiences dismissed it quickly and forcefully: It left theaters with grosses south of $4 million and earned Elliott a “Worst New Star” Razzie nomination, no doubt for the adenoidal voice common to all fancy lads.
  3. (politics, sometimes derogatory) A political allusion or comment that only a certain audience is intended to note and recognize the significance of; particularly in relation to controversial or extreme viewpoints.
    Synonym: codeword
    • 1995 October 15, Jim Coyle, Ottawa Citizen, p a9/1:
      On the lips of Premier Mike Harris, the term ‘special interest’ has the tone of epithet. It’s an all-purpose dog-whistle that those fed up with feminists, minorities, the undeserving poor hear loud and clear.
    • 2018 March 9, Bret Stephens, “In Praise of Globalists”, in New York Times‎[2]:
      Putting “globalist” in quotes suggests a jest or in-joke of sorts, so it’s at least possible this wasn’t intended as some kind of anti-Semitic dog whistle.
    • 2022 December 23, Dror Eydar, “Erasing Jewish history, courtesy of European-Palestinian collaboration”, in Israel Hayom:
      But just as the usual dog-whistle article in The New York Times about the recently elected incoming government warning that "the far-right government that will soon take power ... marks a qualitative and alarming break with all the other governments in Israel's 75-year history" (only right-wing government are alarming) – and thus resonated with American administration officials.
    • 2022 December 24, Tom Reilly, “Top 10 of 2022: Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux elected Bristol County sheriff, ousting Trump-touting incumbent”, in thesunchronicle.com:
      But it was in the waning days of the campaign that the sheriff’s use of images of billionaire George Soros, a donor to many liberal causes and a target of frequent attacks from the right, sparked a charge from Democratic officials and others that Hodgson was using a “dog whistle” of antisemitism, a claim the sheriff’s campaign angrily rejected.
    • 2022 December 25, Joshua Chaffin, “Florida’s red wave: How Republicans turned Miami’s Latino voters away from Democrats”, in The Irish Times:
      “Many of them are coming from contexts where they associate socialism, or anything close to it, with what they left behind and why they left,” Bustamante explains. “I think Republicans have been very savvy – really ruthless – in exploiting that.” / Or as Regalado, a Republican, puts it: “It’s our dog whistle. And it works every time.”
    • 2022 December 26, Grace Adams, “Former New Roads teacher files lawsuit against school for wrongful termination, discrimination”, in Santa Monica Daily News:
      “You have to be living under a rock not to know what that statement ["All lives matter"] means. It’s a dog whistle,” Wright reportedly said.
    • 2022 December 28, ‘Tope Fasua, “Why public officials should mind what they say about the naira”, in Premium Times:
      Whenever a well-placed public officer who should know comes out openly to say the naira is overvalued, overrated, should find its true value, etc., what he has done is to blow a dog whistle for speculators to take positions.
    • 2022 December 29, Rana Ayyub, A Martinez (interviewer), “Independent journalists in India are being targeted for their critical reporting”, in NPR (interview):
      [I]f you were in India right now and watching the news channels, especially the mainstream media, the way they are literally issuing a dog whistle against the Muslim minorities in India, against the lower caste, the way they're endorsing the government's line, the way they are parroting the line, the way they are making enemies of each one of us, it is nauseating.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English dog whistle.

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɡ ˈwi.sow/ [ˈdɔɡ ˈwi.soʊ̯], /ˈdɔ.ɡi ˈwi.sow/ [ˈdɔ.ɡi ˈwi.soʊ̯]
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɡ ˈwi.sow/ [ˈdɔɡ ˈwi.soʊ̯]

Noun

dog whistle m (plural dog whistles)

  1. (figurative) dog whistle (political allusion that only a certain audience is intended to recognize the significance of)
    Synonym: apito de cachorro
    • 2022 February 14, Renato Levin, quotee, “'Dog whistle': a tática de extremistas que utilizam símbolos para se comunicarem [Dog whistle: the tactice of extremists that use symbols to communicate]”, in O Dia‎[3]:
      Quem faz algum tipo de sinal que é identificado por grupos neonazistas ou supremacistas brancos está sinalizando para estes grupos que "estão com eles", já que o dog whistle é uma tática que indica pertencimento, ajudando a indicar quem é do grupo e a recrutar novos participantes.
      Whoever makes this type of sign that is identified by neo-Nazi groups or White supremacists is signaling to these groups that "they're with them", since the dog whistle is a tactic that indicates belonging, helping to indicate who is in the group and to recruit new participants.

Further reading

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