# An embroidery of a chant **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-embroidery-of-a-chant/837249 "2019-07-18T13:10:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-embroidery-of-a-chant/837249/1 "2019-07-18T13:10:41Z")
_The Guardian_ is currently headlining an article, [“Trump rally crowd chants ‘send her back’ after president attacks Ilhan Omar”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/17/trump-rally-send-her-back-ilhan-omar). Here is an excerpt: > [@](#): > > Goaded on by the president, a crowd at a Donald Trump rally on Wednesday night chanted “send her back! send her back!” in reference to Ilhan Omar, a US congresswoman who arrived almost 30 years ago as a child refugee in the United States. […] > > The crowd chimed in as he finished, shouting “leave it”. The chant “send her back” was **an embroidery of a chant** popular during Trump’s first presidential run, when crowds attacked his opponent, Hillary Clinton, with chants of “lock her up”. I’ve highlighted the phrase “an embroidery of a chant” above as it struck me as very strange-sounding. I don’t believe I’ve seen the word “embroidery” ever being used in this manner before. Has anyone else here? More to the point, is this use of “embroidery”… [ol] [li]…employing one of the commonly understood meanings of the term, such as one might find listed in a dictionary? I checked a few and didn’t find anything that seemed relevant. For example, one dictionary listed “elaboration” as one of the meanings of “embroidery”. I’m familiar with the older “lock her up” chant but I don’t see how “send her back” is an _elaboration_ of it. A variation of it, maybe (though even that’s a stretch), but not an elaboration.[/li][li]…metaphorical? (If so, could someone please explain the metaphor for me?)[/li][li]…a malapropism?[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-embroidery-of-a-chant/837249/2 "2019-07-18T20:40:18Z")
In this context, it means, “a variation or elaboration”. The conceit is that you have the original item and then embroider it so that it’s more elaborate. So they’re saying that the Send Her Back chant is an elaboration or outgrowth of the Lock Her Up chant those rallies featured about Hillary in 2016. I’m not sure if I agree with that assessment. Political chants have been around for a long time, after all and the Omar chant doesn’t refer explicitly to the Hillary chant. But in as much as both chants are rooted in bigotry I guess I can see their point. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-embroidery-of-a-chant/837249/3 "2019-07-19T00:26:56Z")
Na, it’s just a bad choice of words. “Embroidering” means amplification, enhancement, fabrication, misrepresentation, fudging, hedging, hype, puffery, superlative. None of which match “replacement” or “reference to” or “derived from”. So the two questions are, is this a new idiom (or just something from a bad writer), and, is there a good single word that could have been used?