was wotd|2006|July|23
Image:The Gerry-Mander.png|right|thumb|The original cartoon that coined the term gerrymander
English

Etymology
From term|w:Elbridge Gerry|(Elbridge) Gerry + term|salamander|(sala)mander, from the similarity in shape to a salamander of an election district created when Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts

Pronunciation
Note: Elbridge Gerry's surname was pronounced with a hard g (g, /ɡ/, /g/) but term|gerrymander is pronounced with a soft g (enPR|j, IPA|/d�/, SAMPA|/dZ/)
a|RP enPR|j�'r�"m�nd�, IPA|/�d��ri�mænd�/, SAMPA|/"dZEri%m{nd@/
a|US enPR|j�'r�"m�nd�r, IPA|/�d��ri�mænd�/, SAMPA|/"dZEri%m{nd@`/
audio|en-us-gerrymander.ogg|Audio (US)

Verb
en-verb
wikipedia|gerrymandering

1. transitive To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
2. transitive|by extension To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a particular group or for other perceived gain.

#:The superintendent helped gerrymander the school district lines in order to keep the children of the wealthy gated community in the better school all the way across town.

Noun
en-noun

1. The act of gerrymandering.

#:By this iniquitous practice, which is known as the gerrymander, the party in a minority in each State is allowed to get only about one-half or one-quarter of its proper share of representation. <!-- "gerrymander" is not actually used, but just mentioned here. Can an example be provided that illustrates how to use "gerrymander"? -->

1. A voting district skewed by gerrymandering.

#:Any citizen looking at a map of district 12 could immediately tell that it was a gerrymander because of the ridiculous way it cut across 4 counties while carving up neighborhoods in half.

Translations
trans-top|The act of gerrymandering
French: découpage électoral
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|A voting district skewed by gerrymandering
trans-mid
trans-bottom

Derived terms
gerrymandering

Category:English eponyms

ru:gerrymander
vi:gerrymander
zh:gerrymander

• 2007-10-20 15:15 - Robert Ullmann - fmt

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