bully pulpit

 The term bully pulpit is, I would think, still not a term that Australians readily understand. It was originally coined in the early 1900s when Americans were familiar with the adjective bully meaning ‘excellent, outstanding’.  This derives from a longstanding British use in which bully was (we are talking the 1500s) a term of endearment for either sex.  The British word derives from a Germanic word meaning ‘beloved’.  A bully boy was a fine upstanding chap who might also be a boyfriend. 

 Unfortunately bully boy took a turn for the worse and came to mean ‘a pimp, a ruffian, a lowlife often hired to carry out violence’.  That was in the late 1600s.

The original sense developed in American English so that by the mid 1800s it meant ‘first-rate’. Bully was an exclamation of delight or praise so Bully for you! meant That’s great!  Thus the bully pulpit, the first-rate opportunity to be heard.

The term had low frequency until after World War II when it skyrocketed. It has since declined but is still common enough.

 Again unfortunately the most common meaning of bully for us is ‘someone who intimidates and harasses other people’.  The context of bully pulpit is often conducive to a misunderstanding. The people who are getting their message across are thought of as shouting, and hectoring others. There are a number of examples of bully pulpitbeing reinterpreted as an opportunity for bullying speech.  Trump – who else but Trump – is described as having a bully pulpit, but, the writer goes on to say, ‘the bullying will be increasingly ineffective’.  A shock jock is accused of using his radio program as a bully pulpit to attack a Council with whom he is feuding.  The sidewalk counsellors near abortion clinics are described as creating a bully pulpit on the footpath. Their tactics are clearly bullying.

 The American use of bully meaning ‘excellent’ died out in the late 1800s.  While it is possible that the compound bully pulpit may continue with its meaning as a compound intact, the minute anyone stops to reanalyse the compound, the current meaning of bully will probably intrude. I would guess that while still using bully pulpit to mean ‘an excellent opportunity to speak’, we will flavour it with the notion of the intimidating bully.  A message from a bully pulpit will be harsh and hectoring.