ldarling (ldarling@thehub.com.au)
Thu, 18 Jun 1998 14:54:06 +1000
> I'm young. Please tell me! :-)
>
> Tom
Well, the phrase "to press someone into doing something" today still means
to force, harass or cajole someone into doing something they generally
don't want to. This comes from a fairly old term where "pressing" someone
meant to force them into joining (generally) the navy or the army. The
term "press gang" referred originally to a group of men who would go around
and force people to join up, under threat of violence. Most commonly used
by the navy, since they could just grab you, chuck you on a boat, and set
sail, after which you had no choice, since if you wanted to get home you
had to do what they said. That said, they weren't always considered evil,
at least not by the navy, since they justified it by saying they needed the
soldiers if they were to properly defend their country. It was simply a
slightly more primitive version of conscription.
The term has since been corrupted by an allusion. A group or organisation
who use force of numbers or direct confrontation to make people see their
point of view can be alluded to (somewhat satirically) as a press gang.
Thus, it is not a particularly nice term of address, generally indicating
scare-mongering or bullying tactics.
The problem then, is that this other meaning has pretty much nothing to do
with the show, so the double meaning doesn't really work that well.
Indeed, this is also why so many people miss it. (took me a few series
before I went -"Oh yeah"). Still, Press Gang is a snappier title than "The
Northbridge Files", which I believe was the original idea.
That help?
Steve
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Fri Sep 18 1998 - 02:42:38 BST