Weasel words and weasels.

Ask any politician how to avoid answering a direct question with a direct answer, and they will probably even manage to weasel out of giving an answer to that query. In fact there are all too many tricks to avoid giving an answer that is likely to lose them a single vote. One very effective tactic is diversion, picking out one word in a question with little or nothing to do with the real topic, and rambling on about that as if it was the real subject, at least until it is time for someone else's question. Answering one question with another is also standard operating practice in the world of political speak and double talk.

And then there are the weasel words. It is simply not possible to get a definitive answer if that answer is qualified by such words as: approximately or estimated, or such phrases as: in the foreseeable future, it is my belief that, or one should never say never, or to the best of my knowledge. Of course, in a political scrum it is often quite convenient for the politician to be selective about which questions he or she chooses to answer at all, because several are being asked at the same time. Selective hearing, or deliberately misunderstanding a question, can also be quite helpful.

Why the word weasel you wonder? Well if you have ever seen one of these little beasties in real life you would not have had to ask that question. They dart and weave about, constantly changing direction, as they search for some unsuspecting creature into which to set their needle sharp teeth. There are numerous other creatures which are rather similar in stature and appearance, but they go by names which don't sound quite so obnoxious when uttered out loud: mink, martin, stoat, ermine and ferret all come to mind, although all might well qualify because of their similar behaviour and habits.

         Lookout below!!!  

Actually I remember watching a wild mink fishing for small crabs in a marina several summers ago. When it caught one, it would bring it up onto a dock where it played with it as a cat might play with a mouse, batting the poor creature around then pouncing on it time after time until it became tired of the game... then tearing it apart before devouring it one morsel at a time, shell and all.

                                                                                           Incoming!!!

Come to think about it, the word minx is also a term employed from time to time as a derogatory metaphor, though with an entirely different connotation, and normally directed at a female of the human species. And then there are the cougars of course, those foxy older huntresses of our younger males. In fact there is an arc full of animals whose qualities could, and are, from time to time be applied to some members of the human species.

Take care out there! We certainly do live in a dog eat dog world. It really is just as well that cows can't fly.