Fwd: "good-enough Morgan, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Subject: "good-enough Morgan, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: good-enough Morgan, n.

good-enough Morgan, n.
[‘ An issue or talking point used to influence voters temporarily,
typically in the period preceding an election.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈɡʊdᵻnʌf ˈmɔːɡ(ə)n/,  U.S. /ˈɡʊdəˌnəf ˈmɔrɡən/
Etymology: <  good-enough adj. + the name of William Morgan, a New
York Freemason who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1826.
The term originated at the time of the Anti-Masonic Movement in 1828.
Public resentment against Freemasons, who were regarded as a secretive
elite, had run high for some time. Morgan had fallen out with his
lodge and intended to publish a book detailing the secrets of the
Freemasons; shortly afterwards, he disappeared. It was widely believed
that Morgan had been kidnapped or even murdered by former fellow
Masons, and anti-Masonic politicians were quick to exploit this
popular suspicion. Before the election of 1828, Thurlow Weed, a
political organizer of the newly founded Anti-Masonic Party, was
alleged to have remarked that a corpse found floating in the Niagara
River was a ‘good-enough Morgan’ until after the election:
1827 Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Advertiser 1 Nov. 2/2 There was full as
much as met the ear in the boast of one who pretended to trace the
hand of Providence in the discovery of the body, viz. that it was a
‘good enough Morgan for their purpose till after election’.
 U.S. Polit. Now rare.
  An issue or talking point used to influence voters temporarily,
typically in the period preceding an election.
1840  P. S. Townsend Let. 5 Jan. in Bull. Hist. Med. (1950) 24 453 To
punish Noah for espousing Henry Clay so warmly & not falling into the
‘Good enough Morgan's’ Chas. King's friend Scott's nomination.
1856 Congress. Globe 27 Aug. 53/1 You will have victims who can answer
as ‘good enough Morgans’ at least until after the election.
1880 Daily Inter-Ocean (Chicago) 3 June 10/3 The third-term twaddle is
a ‘good enough Morgan’ until after the convention.
1904 Buffalo Commerc. 25 May 6 A pretty thin disguise, too. But it's a
‘good enough Morgan’ until the next general election.
1950 Berks. (Pittsfield, Mass.) Evening Eagle 12 June 14/2 In the
present state of public mind it is a ‘good enough Morgan till after
election’ and, in truth, it is a pretty good Morgan by any standard.

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/429683

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