Re: GOP
Posted by bob on February 23, 2000 In Reply to: Re: GOP posted by Tomar on
February 23, 2000
: : : : Why does "GOP" refer to the Republican Party?
: : : It stands for Grand Old Party, a bit of self-congratulation.
: : "G.O.P. The Grand Old Party got that name around 1880, and
the expression was used derisively at first. It's unclear just who
originally taunted the Republicans with that label, but it made
its first appearance in print in the Louisville Courier Journal
(a Kentucky newspaper) in 1887. Later on, of course, the Republicans
adopted the label as their own." From the "Morris Dictionary of
Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollinsPublishers,
New York, 1977).
: : But my question is, why was it originally used derisively?
: Probably sarcastically, mockingly.
The party was founded in 1856 (in Ripon, Wisconsin) so it wasn't
Old in any sense when it acquired the nickname. And (aside from
Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) it has rarely been Grand.
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