Throttlebottom (THROT-l-bot-uhm) noun

   A purposeless incompetent in public office.

[After Alexander Throttlebottom, a Vice Presidential character in
Of Thee I Sing, a 1932 musical comedy.]

In honor of President's Day, this week we've been looking at words with
presidential connections. It's about time we paid our dues to the Vice
President too. A VP, by very nature, is meant to play a second fiddle
though it's not uncommon to find an eminence grise in that office. Here's
how the term throttlebottom came to represent VPs and other similar (mostly)
harmless figures:

The first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize, "Of Thee I Sing" is a
brilliant political satire that gave us today's word. In this masterful
operetta (music: George Gershwin, lyrics: Ira Gershwin, libretto: George
Kaufman and Morris Ryskind), presidential candidate John P. Wintergreen
runs a political campaign based on the theme of love. His National Party
sponsors a beauty contest, with Wintergreen to marry the winner. Instead,
Wintergreen falls in love with Mary Turner, a secretary at the pageant, and
marries her on the day of his inauguration. Diana Devereaux, the contest
winner, sues President Wintergreen for breach of contract; France threatens
to go to war, since Devereaux is of French descent; and Congress impeaches
him. Wintergreen points out the United States Constitution provision that
when the President is unable to perform his duty, the Vice President fulfills
the obligations. VP Throttlebottom agrees to marry Diana and forever etches
his name in the dictionaries.                                        -Anu

   "Every Vice President from John Nance Garner to at least Lyndon Johnson
   went into the office vowing: `I will not be a Throttlebottom.'"
   J. Roberts, Throttlebottoms's Legacy, National Review (New York),
   Jun 25, 1990.

This week's theme: words with presidential connections.

Today's AWAD is sponsored by NannyTax, Inc., providing tax compliance services
to employers of domestic help. For useful information and a free consultation,
please visit: http://www.nannytax.com

............................................................................
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. -Oscar Wilde,
writer (1854-1900)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/throttlebottom.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/throttlebottom.ram