Of Sonic Screwdrivers and Politicians

Speaking of words and their definitions (well, I was getting to it in my roundabout way), I saw this article the other day: Doctor Who's Sonic Screwdriver Added to Oxford Dictionary.

Yes, Dear Readers, it appears that the "sonic screwdriver," a device which used sound waves to perform various tasks for The Doctor, will be included and defined in the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The definition will read, according to the article,

"sonic screwdriver, n. Chiefly science fiction. A (hand-held) electronic device which uses sound waves to perform various mechanical and technical functions. Originally and chiefly in (or with reference to) the British television series Doctor Who."

I haven't watched enough episodes of Doctor Who to be familiar with the sonic screwdriver, but it looks cool (a bit like a Jedi Knight's light saber, actually) and I can see the value of such a deus ex machina device for replacing a whole box of various tools.

Of course, we have a present-day device which uses sound waves to perform (or not perform, more often) various tasks ... we call it a politician.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a politician generates sound waves that target the comfort patterns of the listener's brain, causing him or her to support the ideas and positions exposed by the politician. By the time the listener realizes that it was all only sound, the politician has been elected ... usually to a safe seat in a district protected by artificially drafted boundaries.

So, you get the sonic screwing without the driver part.

This is why, considering the performance of many of the politicians we have elected to represent us*, we don't say "Doctor Who?," as often as we say "He said What??"

Have a good day. And always have a screwdriver** handy to help cope with politicians.

Come back tomorrow, when we will name the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for April. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Actually, to represent the special interests that funded their campaigns.

** Preferably with double vodka.