A partial and continually updated glossary of Josh Marshallisms (or, more broadly, TPMisms).
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1346330
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1346330
There’s an entire political physics here, ranging from the quantum to the astrophysical. “Schrodinger’s bus.” “The dignity-loss event horizon.” “Detecting a black hole.” I propose a new term: GUTT. “Grand Unified Theory of Trumpism.”
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I just love this so much. Sometimes we only know how to discuss a Trump-related phenomenon because there is a Josh Marshallism available to use.
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Kindly direct me to the womp: where, oh where is the womp?!
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"The difference between the almost right word and the right word
is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” Mark Twain.
I delight in all of these Marshallisms.
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The unit of time known as a Scaramucci?
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Hah! I first read the headline as…
TPM’s Glossary of Josh Marshmallows
…and I wondered for a second, “How many types of marshmallows are there?”
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And “astroturf” (remembered most vividly from the Abramoff era). If Josh didn’t invent it, he taught me what it meant. Remembering fondly that crowd-sourced investigative reporting where people would go out on their lunch hours and check out astroturf organizations’ addresses.
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The larger well known time measure unit (Infinity LESS 1 Scaramucci Units) - particularly among the American Press “Fighting Typewriters” brigade is the “Freidman UNIT”.
The Freidman UNIT: The amount of time in IRAQ that it takes to turn ONE corner PLUS ONE or MORE corners. esp: regarding military activity.
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A worthy suggestion, though it may have become ensconced in our language even beyond TPM.
(Oh, and how can we overlook its perfect acronym initialism: FU!?!!)
[“al bacio” = “chef’s kiss”] 
ETA: “Fighting Typewriters” = “Keyboard Kommandos”!
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But you forgot to mention how long a Freidman Unit is! It’s six months. It comes from (as you noted) Tom Friedman continually saying that “the next six months” will finally determine the shape of the Iraq conflict and/or “the next six months” are the most critical time period of the war.
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I think Bitch Slap Politics has been overlooked. It is the earliest phrase/insight I recall reading on TPM.
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Several years ago @joshuamarshall used the term “Hebraic lawn jockeys” which I thought was hilarious. I haven’t heard him use it since.
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The term sounds like the name of an ironic Israeli power punk band or an offensive slur by a far right, to the right of Likud parliament member towards African immigrants.
I think it had something to do with a tendency of far right antisemites to fetishize Israel and token Jewish people.
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Trump’s Razor
Hilarious and impressive how many times it worked : - )