Spin doctor

French translation: English only

16:48 Mar 27, 2006

English to French translations [PRO]
Marketing - Advertising / Public Relations / Politics

English term or phrase: Spin doctor

Je sais ce que cela veut dire et je sais le traduire (d'ailleurs, je le laisse toujours tel quel...).

Ce que je voudrais savoir, c'est l'origine du terme.

Thierry LOTTE KudoZ activity Questions: 284 (none open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 3187
Local time: 14:19

French translation:English only

Explanation:
One of the earliest print citations of spin doctor appeared in an October 1984 New York Times article following the Reagan/Mondale debate, and a helpful definition is contained therein: "A dozen men in good suits and women in silk dresses will circulate smoothly among the reporters, spouting confident opinions. They won't be just press agents trying to impart a favorable spin to a routine release. They'll be Spin Doctors, senior advisors to the candidates." No ordinary politicians' flaks, these are spinmeisters, spin masters, sultans of spin.

read more at ref below

Selected response from:

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 06:19

Grading comment

Thanks to all of you !
Sometimes I do hesitate to ask questions because it is sometimes very difficult to attribute the KudoZ pts. To bad that it is not possible to split....
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

spin doctor, see below

ekat3r1na

3 +2

faiseur d'image/conseiller politique

CMJ_Trans (X)

3 +1

English only

RHELLER

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

spin doctor faiseur d'image/conseiller politique

Explanation:
try this
freespace.virgin.net/brendan.richards/glossary/glossary.htm

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 14:19
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 127

22 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

spin doctor spin doctor, see below

Explanation:
Meaning "attempt to influence reporters' minds after an event has taken place but before they have written about it" seems to have risen to popularity in the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign; e.g. spin doctor, first attested 1984

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spin

One suggests that "spin doctor" may be related to "put a good spin on it," and indeed the two phrases do both spring from sports, particularly cricket, billiards and baseball, where imparting a spinning motion to the ball gives the player more control over its trajectory and behavior. Similarly, since the late 1970s "spin" has been used to mean, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, "A bias or slant on information, intended to create a favorable impression when it is presented to the public." "Spin" is thus a way to alter the trajectory of perceived reality so that it leads to a conclusion other than that which otherwise might prevail among the public.

"Spin doctor" as a term for someone employed to promote, and usually masterful at concocting, positive interpretations of negative news dates back to the mid-1980s, with the first appearance yet found being in a New York Times story of October, 1984. The "doctor" element of the phrase is almost certainly derived from the verb "to doctor" in the pejorative sense, dating back to the late 18th century, of "to disguise, falsify or tamper with," as found in the phrase "to doctor the books."

http://www.word-detective.com/072104.html

ekat3r1na

23 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

spin doctor

English only

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 06:19
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 19

Grading comment

Thanks to all of you !
Sometimes I do hesitate to ask questions because it is sometimes very difficult to attribute the KudoZ pts. To bad that it is not possible to split....

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French translation: English only

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