t is a political expression or behaviour. I guess there is so much of it now, that it seems to be getting my attention.
“To retreat from a previously held position, opinion, or commitment. We can mentally see the origins - to pedal backwards on a bicycle.”
The expression came about in the 1880s during the “global bicycle craze.” It stayed with bicycling until the mid-20th century.
Before that it was “misspeaking.” And a synonym is backtracking. There was lots of that in the past, too.
And what happened in the 1950s to make this a common behaviour?
The marker that is given was U.S. politicians during the 1950s McCarthy era where his accusations “grew more outlandish” and they had to reverse their stances.
There was the famous Richard Nixon’s Checkers Speech in 1952 where he backpedaled from a scandal for maintaining a secret political fund.
It turns out that McCarthy backpedaled on the anti-communist witch hunts. Adlai Stevenson backpedaled when it was revealed to have a private expense fund, and George Wallace reversed his position and turned towards a hardline segregationist rhetoric - that’s a strange example to me.
There’s an American bias in google retrievals so that’s what comes up in the searches because of our proximity to the U.S. There are unlimited examples in other countries. It seems odd that Wikipedia doesn’t have an entry for the greatest back[pedals in history.
The jokes are all about sports backpedaling - especially football. But here are a few lines in the humorous range:
I'm not changing my mind; I'm just adjusting my direction
I stand by my statement, which is why I’m currently walking away from it
My favourite exercise is backpedaling on my promises
"Don't look back unless it's hilarious
I’m just here to back your bad decisions... then immediately backpedal on them
And what about this example?
Here’s a collage of a Sea Grape leaf so that it looks like flowing silk.
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