Jan.17

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

The Word Cup, Part X: Group B (Presidential Campaigns, Pre-Civil War), Round Two

There's been so much news and other stuff, that we haven't had time and space to keep going with this feature, but the decks are clearing up now. So, we proceed to the third set of results. Recall that since ties are relatively common in soccer, we've decided that any matchup decided by less than 5% of the vote will count as a tie. And with that said, here are the results (winners in bold):

That produces these results for Group E, Round One:

This is the clearest result we've had thus far; nobody can doubt which slogan was in first, which was in second, and which two were also-rans.

Here are some reader comments on this round:

J.A. in Puerto Armuelles, Panama: Clearly, "54-40 or Fight!" was the most important slogan in this group and, frankly, your pooh-poohing of it has me worried.

If it had been taken more seriously all of the Canadian nefariousness of the past decades could have been avoided.

Perhaps (V) or (Z) wants to build a tower in Toronto, or maybe the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has video of certain dachshunds peeing on a mattress? Fishier than a Canuck just back from the Outer Banks if you ask me.

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C.G.B. in Milwaukee, WI: Hey. It's the one Everyone knows! Plus, my dad, the king of the bad dad pun, had one with the punchline, "Typical Gnu and Tiler, Too." Sorry. Forget the (surely hilarious) setup.

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J.M. in Stamford, CT: One of the slogans is clearly the most significant because it is still being performed today for popular entertainment, even by people who don't necessarily know what it means.

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D.S. in Havertown, PA: First of all, I've found that the song "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!" is equally as catchy, and only slightly less annoying, than "Mickey" by Toni Basil. It is, however, equally as catchy and monumentally less annoying than "Barbie World" by Aqua. And I'll thank you both now that I have that torturous tri-symphony of claptrap stuck in my head.

In spite of, or perhaps because of that, I gotta go with two other slogans. I'm picking "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, Frémont" and "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved!" to advance. The Civil War was the most transformational event in U.S. history, arguably even moreso than the Revolution itself. It is also arguably one of the most transformational events in world history. What would the 20th Century have been like without the U.S. as one united country? The Free Soil movement and the idea that the Union was, in fact, a Union rather than a loose coalition of states (The United States IS vs. The United States ARE) can both be linked specifically to the Civil War.

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L.G. in Thornton, CO: I voted "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!" because it was the first campaign slogan used and thus has great historical significance. I must admit, however, that my favorite campaign slogan of all time is "In your guts, you know he's nuts," used by Lyndon B. Johnson supporters in response to Barry Goldwater's "In your heart, you know he's right."

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A.B. in Wendel, NC: A little surprised that "Manifest Destiny" did not show up in this era, the phrase coined by Louis O'Sullivan in 1845 concerning the annexation of Texas and of, ironically, Oregon... which led to the "54-40 or Fight!" thing.

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P.M.C. in Schaumburg, IL: "54-40 or Fight!"To me, this slogan exemplifies American politics to a "T." It's overtly aggressive, catchy, was completely compromised, and then remembered as a great victory.

We'll have another set of results, and another ballot, tomorrow. (Z)