Parliament of any country, called by any name, comprises elected people’s representatives, who make laws and form governments run the nations. The parliamentarians are expected to be of high stature, knowledgeable, integrity and culture. Therefore, there is no reason to have a list of unparliamentary words. However, such lists exist in every country, and some are rib-tickling.
We inherited our laws from the English, which still influences our minds and lives. Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice has been revised over many editions since that work first appeared in 1844 and has been edited more than 25 times.
Sir Winston Churchill can be singled out to be outstanding in mocking and insulting his opponents while not breaching Lakshman Rekha’s equivalent in the U.K., whatever it is. A ‘Terminological inexactitude, being economical with the truth, both meaning lying, are classic examples of evading the rules. Similarly, Tired and emotional drunkenness escaped the speaker’s attention. Besides the common banned words like liar, traitor, hypocrite, bastard, an ignoramus, a hooligan, and idiot, the U.K. includes archaic pipsqueak, wart, swine, blackguard, guttersnipe and stoolpigeon as unutterable in the parliament.
The list in Canada is long and includes specialities like Canadian Mussolini, fuddle-duddle, the political sewer pipe from Carleton county, a bag of wind, inspired by forty-rod whisky, pompous ass etc. Hong Kong considers calling a member foul grass grows out of a foul ditch unparliamentary. The Irish chair decides on unparliamentary words, which include brat, buffoon, chancer, communist, corner boy, coward, fascist, gurrier, guttersnipe, hypocrite, rat, scumbag, scurrilous speaker, or yahoo. The word ‘handbagging’ is unparliamentary” concerning any lady member. Belgium is different with nothing as unparliamentary language, and members are free to say anything inside the parliament. When a member called the Belgium PM a paedophile, the other members merely walked out, registering their dismay.
New Zealand has many unparliamentary phrases like idle vapouring of a mind diseased; his brains could revolve inside a peanut shell for a thousand years without touching the sides, or energy of a tired snail returning home from a funeral. The mention of a member as a highway bandit is proscribed in the Norwegian parliament. The U.S. regularly expunges utterances by their members of Congress.
The 2004 edition of unparliamentary expressions in India ran to 900 pages. I wonder what the current number of pages could be. The 2012 edition included the following:
Ali Baba and the forty thieves, bad man, badmash, bandicoot, blackmail, blind, deaf and dumb, bluffing, bribe, a bucket of shit, communist, confused mind, dacoit, darling (while referring to Lady MPs), deceive, double-minded, double-talk, downtrodden, goonda, lazy, liar, loudmouth, lousy, nuisance, racketeer, radical extremist, rat, ringmaster, scumbag, thief, thumbprint- ‘angutta chaap’ (to an illiterate M.P.), which are expunged. If the Presiding Officer is a “lady”, no M.P. can address her as “beloved Chairperson”.
Words like ‘jumlajeevi’, ‘dohra charitra’, ‘Baal buddhi’, and ‘Snoopgate’ have been declared unparliamentary. The new booklet include ‘anarchist’, ‘Shakuni’, ‘tanashah’, ‘taanashahi’, ‘dictatorial’, ‘Jaichand’, ‘Khalistani’, ‘vinash purush’, and ‘Khoon se kheti’ as unparliamentary including words like ‘dohra charitra’, ‘nautanki’, ‘dhindora peetna’, ‘nikamma’ and ‘behri sarkar’ as unparliamentary expressions.
Among some of the English words ‘bloodshed’, ‘bloody’, ‘betrayed’, ‘ashamed’, ‘abused’, ‘cheated’, ‘criminal’ and ‘crocodile tears’ are included in the list. ‘Anarchist’, ‘Kala din’, ‘Kala bazaari’, ‘gaddar’, ‘girgit’, ‘goons’, ‘ghadiyali ansu’, ‘ahankara’, ‘corrupt’, and ‘khareed farokht’ have also been listed as unparliamentary. Maut ka Saudagar finds no mention!
Parliamentary debates may have no spice if words like Kala bazaari or traitors do not find acceptance. I’m still curious about the hugging and kissing on the forehead like Rahul did!
Intrépide Voix
Sampath Kumar
