gerrymander

English

WOTD – 23 July 2006

The original cartoon that coined the term gerrymander.

Etymology

Blend of Gerry +‎ salamander (named after Elbridge Gerry), from the similarity in shape to a salamander of an electoral district created when Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts. Coined by editors of the Boston Gazette 26 March 1812, in text likely written by Nathan Hale and Benjamin and John Russell, and accompanying a cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale.

Pronunciation

Elbridge Gerry's surname was pronounced with a hard g (enPR: g, /ɡ/) but gerrymander is most commonly pronounced with a soft g (enPR: j, /dʒ/).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: jĕ'rēmăn"də, IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛɹiˌmændə/
• (US) enPR: jĕ'rēmăn"dər, IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛɹiˌmændɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

gerrymander (third-person singular simple present gerrymanders, present participle gerrymandering, simple past and past participle gerrymandered)

1. (transitive, derogatory) To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
2. (transitive, derogatory, by extension) To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a particular group or for other perceived gain.

   The superintendent helped gerrymander the school district lines in order to keep the children of the wealthy gated community in the better school all the way across town.

3. (transitive, derogatory, by extension) To change the franchise or voting system in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
   • 1912, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art:

     [The Reform Bill's] main purpose will be so to gerrymander the electorate as to give the greatest possible assistance to the Radical party at the next election.

   • 2018 November 1, Patrick Dunleavy, Alice Park, Ros Taylor, The UK's Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit, LSE Press, →ISBN, page 257:

     But Remainers often picture [Brexit] instead as the upshot of a poorly framed question put to an ill-informed, and underrepresentative segment of the population – even the product of a 'gerrymander'.

   • 2021 October 29, Jeffrey S. Sutton, Who Decides?: States As Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 110:

     Congress delegated to the first legislature the task of setting up elections under territorial law, which it did. But Montana Democrats couldn't pass up the opportunity to gerrymander the rules.

4. (transitive, derogatory, by extension, chiefly UK and Ireland) To deliberately bring in voters of one's own party or displace voters of another party from a voting district in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
   • 2000, Hugo de Burgh, Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 207:

     Westminster City Council has been accused by the District Auditor of using public money to gerrymander marginal wards for the 1990 Borough elections. The strategy of attempting to 'gentrify' eight key wards, selling off council homes and hostels for the homeless to move out potential Labour voters and attract in more Conservative voters, was in conflict with the council's statutory duty to homeless people

   • 2022 December 1, Trevor Birney, Quinn, Merrion Press, →ISBN:

     Fermanagh Council even went so far as to create the new village of Donagh in an attempt to move Catholics out of Newtownbutler, four miles away, so unionists could gerrymander a majority.

Derived terms

• dummymander
• gerrymanderer
• gerrymandering

Noun

gerrymander (plural gerrymanders)

1. (derogatory) The act of gerrymandering.
2. (derogatory) A voting district skewed by gerrymandering.

   Any citizen looking at a map of district 12 could immediately tell that it was a gerrymander because of the ridiculous way it cut across 4 counties while carving up neighborhoods in half.

Translations

the act of gerrymandering

• Afrikaans: afbakeningsknoeiery
• Dutch: kiesrechtgeografie
• Estonian: valijavalimine
• Finnish: gerrymanderointi
• French: charcutage électoral m
• Georgian: ჯერიმანდერინგი (ǯerimanderingi)
• Hungarian: választókerület-manipuláció, választókerület-határok manipulációja/átrajzolása
• Icelandic: kjördæmahagræðing f
• Portuguese: manipulação eleitoral
• Russian: предвы́борные махина́ции f pl (predvýbornyje maxinácii)
• Spanish: arreglo de distritos electorales m
• Welsh: cyffindwyllo

a voting district skewed by gerrymandering

• Hungarian: manipulált (határú) választókerület

References

• “gerrymander”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GERRYMANDER”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.