As one would expect, Polly has a language all her own. The glossary ("Pollyssary") below defines some of her favorite terms but is by no means complete.
Click here for an example of PollySpeak, The terms used are defined on this page.
If you’d like to b send in your own favorite Pollyism (by email, not by Pollygram), Polly will send you a cracker! Additional definitions for existing Pollyisms are also welcome. Enjoy!
Pollyism |
Definition |
HoiPolly |
n. a group of common people that can make or break Polly's predictions. They are rarely seen with Pollypro types, prefer beer over wine, and discover who won an election via the morning paper rather than staying up late and watching the returns. |
Monopolly |
n. the state of one candidate completely dominating the field |
Napolly |
n. Polly’s break, often spent in Italy, taken between major elections |
Oligopolly |
n. the state where a select few surveys dominate the PollyVote |
PennPolly |
n. one who writes Polly at the University of Penn |
Polly |
n. 1: an extremely talented parrot known for her political savvy and forecasting talents; 2: short for PollyVote i.e. “where’s the polly at today?†|
Polly |
v. Pollies; to look up the PollyVote i.e. “George pollies every morning before breakfast.†|
Pollyalcohol |
n. Polly’s beverage of choice, particularly after a long night of forecasting or, on occasion, before starting to forecast |
Pollyamorous |
adj. being in love with more than one candidate i.e. “the pollyamorous results show an even split between the candidates†|
Pollyana |
n. 1. when a political candidate gets a big gift i.e. “The release of that economics report today was a pollyana for Johnâ€; 2. a major political fundraiser i.e. “That $1,000/plate pollyana really helped George’s war chestâ€; 3. one who is overly generous to a candidate |
Pollyandrite |
n. a female politician who is the darling of male voters |
Pollyblot |
n. a politician’s convenient selective memory loss |
Pollyblot |
v. pollyblotted; pollyblotting; to intentionally forget an inconvenient political fact or incident. “I must remember to pollyblot this later.†|
PollyByGolly |
interjection: the realization that you have capitulated completely to the wisdom of Polly's forecasting system. ([with Polly's thanks to Shelby McIntyre for this definition] |
Pollycentric |
adj. to have more than one political center |
Pollycrastination |
n. the ability to avoid doing a number of things, all at the same time |
Pollyemic |
n. an aggressive attack on Polly’s forecasting model or honor |
Pollyerr |
n. the error in the PollyVote |
Pollyester |
n. 1. the ability of a politician to forecast what will happen tomorrow, next month and next year and to explain afterwards why it did not happen yesterday, yestermonth or yesteryear (with apologies to Winston Churchill); 2. a fake forecast that, while totally useless, can be washed |
Pollygamy |
n. the state of not being married to one forecasting method |
Pollygloat |
v. pollygloated; pollygloating; unsubtly gleeful behavior on radio or television of a politician whose opponent has been pollyspotted or caught in a pollywollydoodle |
Pollyglot |
n. a mixture of forecasting terminology |
Pollygon |
n. the end of the election, Polly has left the building |
Pollygram |
n. an inefficient way to contact Polly – try email instead> |
Pollygraph |
n. 1. any graph created by Polly; 2. a device for finding the true forecast |
Pollymorphous |
adj. the quality of having political views that change with circumstances |
Pollymur |
n. short for PollyMurmur – a political rumor |
Pollymurmur |
n. a political rumor |
PollyNation |
n. 1. an essay on the national forecast; 2. the act of making little Pollys |
Pollynician |
n. one who lends Polly technical assistance. |
Pollynitions |
n. Polly’s terms, defined |
Pollynizing |
v. the act of reducing forecasting error by calculating the PollyVote |
Pollynose |
Best (a Pollysci usually follows the realization of this awful Pollypun) |
Pollyonesse |
n. a political report that is written in Greek as far as Polly is concerned |
Pollypeptide |
n. a state of high energy for Polly, usually following a full moon |
Pollyphemus |
n. blinded by one survey |
Pollyphonic |
adj. having the ring of truth, but not the substance |
Pollypolster |
n. a polling agency that is included in the PollyVote |
Pollypro |
n. a forecasting or Polly expert |
Pollypropylene |
n. the point at which Polly gave up her amateur status to get paid for forecasting |
Pollypun |
n. every conceivable play on the roots “polly†“poly†and “poli†|
Pollyroid |
n. 1. an instant snapshot of the current political race; 2. a painful condition Polly gets if she sits on her perch too long |
Pollyssary |
n. a list of Pollynitions. |
Pollysci |
n. the sound uttered when one is exasperated by the whole political process or one of these Pollypuns |
Pollysh |
v. to smooth out forecasting error |
Pollyspot |
v. pollyspotted; pollyspotting; to observe a politician indulging in behavior that is inconsistent with his or her espoused beliefs |
Pollytesse |
n. polite agreement with Polly’s methodology and results |
Pollytics |
n. forecasting aberrations |
Pollyunsaturated |
n. time to clean Polly’s cage, usually after a night of too much Pollyalcohol and RollyPolly |
Pollyvoid |
n. a place where out-of-office politicians go |
n. a combined average that takes the mean of the average of the two-party vote in the surveys and the mean of the two-party vote forecast obtained with the quantitative models. See Armstrong (2001). |
|
Pollywollydoodle |
n. an unspecified sexual impropriety committed by a politician |
Pollywood |
n. exotic film that visualises politicians' wild fantasies, including romance and re-election |
RollyPolly |
n. 1. Polly’s state after too much Pollyalcohol; 2. a Polly that needs to exercise more, usually after a long Napolly but before a Pollypeptide |
*â€Polly Sez†is written/compiled by the Pollynator, Stephen Archibald.