# How is the word Gerrymander used in the UK?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 12, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819 "2022-11-12T22:41:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/1 "2022-11-12T22:41:10Z")
While watching an old episode of _Sister Boniface_ last weekend I noticed that the titular character used the word ‘gerrymander’ in what I considered an odd way. She was talking about someone monkeying with a bronze plaque so that it would fall on someone else. She said this hypothetical someone “gerrymandered” the plaque.
And she said it two different times in the episode.
In the US, you’d more likely say the plaque had been jerryrigged. Since gerrymander is a word created in the US, did the Brits pick up the word and change the meaning there? If you’re in the UK how do you use either of these words, if you use them at all?
The recent elections brought it back up in my mind.
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### Author:  [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/2 "2022-11-12T22:51:05Z")
Jerryrigged and gerrymander mean exactly the same here as in the US. I’m not familiar with the show, but my guess is the writers would be deliberately showing the character making a mistake, is this kind of malapropism consistent with the character?
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/3 "2022-11-12T23:00:29Z")
I’ve only just started watching the show, but she’s pretty much the smartest person _on_ the show, so I’d be surprised if it was a malaprop.
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### Author:  [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/4 "2022-11-12T23:06:02Z")
…is this the script?
> **[Sister Boniface Mysteries: Season 1, Episode 9 script | Subs like Script](https://subslikescript.com/series/Sister_Boniface_Mysteries-15407098/season-1/episode-9-Sister_Town)**
>
> Transcript for Tv Show Sister Boniface Mysteries - Season 1 Episode 9 - Sister Town
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/5 "2022-11-12T23:13:39Z")
Looks like the episode. It was about “twin” cities. Was that supposed to find words in the script? Because whatever the script said, I heard her distinctly say “gerrymander”. Twice.
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### Author:  [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/6 "2022-11-12T23:17:04Z")
…that must be it: they use the word gerrymander twice, but its just a straight transcript so I don’t understand the context 🙂
> [@](#):
>
> The public appetite.
>
> Which is why I’m asking.
>
> Mr. Non Committal,
> the lone wolf.
>
> And yet here you are,
>
> the life and soul
> of this twinning.
>
> Why is it so important to you?
>
> Ruth, I’m asking as a friend.
>
> It appears our **gerrymanderer**
>
> had the foresight
> to wear gloves.
>
> A formidable foe.
>
> -Would you mind?
> -Of course, Sister.
>
> Oh!
>
> -Oh.
> -Do you have something?
>
> If by something you mean
> some kind of smudge,
> [@](#):
>
> Observe.
>
> Four steel pins up there on
> the wall for the memorial,
>
> but the four nuts to
> hold it there, missing.
>
> This was rigged.
>
> But that means murder.
>
> I’m afraid it’s worse.
>
> Logic suggests the
> intended victim was Karl.
>
> **Gerrymandered** for
> Gerry, if you like.
>
> Someone would really do this?
>
> Are we in danger?
>
> Please, don’t panic.
>
> Who else had access to the
> hall after the rehearsal?
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/7 "2022-11-12T23:34:01Z")
It seems to me that they’re just reeeeeaaaaallllly stretching the connotation of “gerrymander” for the purposes of the joke. Something like “manipulated to shift the circumstances Gerry’s detriment.”
It’s just a joke trying to too reach too far, I think.
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/8 "2022-11-12T23:53:15Z")
Sister does enjoy a bit of word play, the village was twinning with a German one not long after the War when Germans were still Gerrys in common speech. The word goes back to 1812, plenty of time for her to pick it up for a pun.
She was showing off as usual.
ETA The writers would have avoided the more obvious jerry rigged as many (mistakenly) now believe it offensive about Germans.
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### Author:  [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/9 "2022-11-13T00:30:21Z")
Jerry Mander, who is that?
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/10 "2022-11-13T00:39:39Z")
Well, I see that , but gerrymander doesn’t mean what she used it for. So, to me, it just made her look dumb, not clever.
> [@Asuka](#):
>
> Jerry Mander, who is that?
Eldridge Gerry (US politician) combined with the ‘mander’ part of salamander. Someone thought the weird political districts he created looked like lizards.
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/11 "2022-11-13T00:43:51Z")
It worked for me fine, I’m Australian which may matter. It was written for a UK audience. I suspect you have a stricter usage of the word than either we or the Brits.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/12 "2022-11-13T00:47:31Z")
So, you _do_ use it in a different way. I’ve never seen it used in the US in other than the political sense. TIL.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/13 "2022-11-13T00:50:09Z")
I think it’s just a pun about the memorial being “rigged” for murder, with the intended victim being Karl, a German or “jerry” (slang).
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/14 "2022-11-13T00:51:25Z")
Not really but I got the joke if that makes sense, It didn’t startle me like some moments in shows do. Puns don’t have to be strictly logical to tickle. Jerry rigged would have been better but that’s going to startle some.
ETA, I watched this episode 2 days ago, handy.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/15 "2022-11-13T00:55:23Z")
That’s interesting, because I don’t think jerryrigged was ever considered a slur here. I could see why gerrymandered got picked up and merged with it as a “sort of” synonym to avoid being offensive.
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/16 "2022-11-13T01:01:58Z")
Also there was no Gerry or salamander district in the UK so blurred edges on the meaning by the time it travelled are only to be expected. It was more important it hold a strict meaning in the US. I can see me pulling it out to try to explain a different form of corruption.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/17 "2022-11-13T01:03:29Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> That’s interesting, because I don’t think jerryrigged was ever considered a slur here.
I’ve always understood the terms as “jury-rigged” (improvised) and “jerry-built” (shoddy), not “jerry-rigged.”
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/18 "2022-11-13T01:04:51Z")
So many nations divided by a common language trying to understand eachother on the internet.
I want a babel fish
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/19 "2022-11-13T01:10:27Z")
A rollmop?
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-word-gerrymander-used-in-the-uk/974819/20 "2022-11-13T01:17:59Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> Eldridge Gerry (US politician) combined with the ‘mander’ part of salamander.
It’s “Elbridge”, not “Eldridge”. Also it’s interesting that his last name is pronounced with a hard G, like “Gary”, not like “Jerry”. So the current pronunciation of “gerrymander” doesn’t actually sound like his name.
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