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[*Note: Reader Brett Clippindale has sent me a quotation from a Feb. 2008 Newsweek in which the word is used positively to describe a speech of Barack Obama. The quotation is at the bottom of this essay.]

Then, in 1993, we have a NY Times reference to stemwinder that is reminiscent of Time Magazine's 1977 usage. The author of this 4/4/93 piece (Michael Wines) was speaking of the modern Senate filibuster. He said: "It is nothing like the popular image, enshrined in Jimmy Stewart movies and old newsreels, of obstinant lawmakers delivering all-night stemwinders and reading from phone books." This, then, is the first reference I find in the NY Times to a usage of stemwinder as akin to something long and boring. It is the "length" factor that seems to be the conduit from riveting to boring speech.

Then, subsequent appearances of the term seemed to return stemwinder to its favored position as an eloquent political speech. A 1993 article by Kevin Sack talked about the four great politcal orators of the 1980s-early 1990s: Mario Cuomo, Edward Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, and Ronald Reagan. Cuomo was called the "master of the stemwinder without the floridity of the old Senator Claghorn school."

Another crack in the unitary facade of meaning of stemwinder appeared in a May 18, 1995 article by James Barron. He spoke of the modern graduation speech as stentorian stemwinder, which was said to be is "as dated as the 'Pomp and Circumstance' march." Here a stemwinder, if not exactly boring, is perceived as something irrelevant.

This facade crack was quickly repaired, as for the next five years or so most of the references to stemwinder in the Times had to do with stirring political orations. One possible exception, however, was an early 1999 speech by US Rep. Henry Hyde. His speech, as R. W. Apple said, was a "stemwinder from another era, a florid 20-minute throwback.."

Thus, by the year 2000 we don't have a completely uniform understanding of stemwinder. It can, of course, mean a forceful political oration--and that is its most frequent usage. But writers can also pick up on two other features of such an oration--its floridness or its length--and focus on these factors. These two factors then might serve as a sort of "wedge" to a more negative reading of the term "stemwinder.

From 2000 to Today

Though the NY Times continues to have about three or four appeareances of stemwinder per year, in the last six years the meaning of it has become more and more murky. We continue to have examples of the traditional meaning. Margaret Thatcher might deliver a steminder and fire up her people (3/25/02); James Carville showed up in Washington to deliver a stemwinder to inspire his audience (5/23/02). But then you have Caspar Weinberger delivering a stemwinder speech lasting 35 minutes (when the amount of time is listed, stemwinder is likely to be used in a negative fashion) on 3/16/01. The problem with Weinberger's speech, the journalist tells us, is that he gave it while the guests were standing before dinner. Thus, he was greeted with tepid applause, even while the people were probably wondering what that chicken really tasted like.

But you know who forced the Times to use stemwinder in its "boring" sense? Well, another Democratic politician--this time John Kerry in 2004. "Mr. Kerry continues to lapse into the mode of a senator accustomed to delivering stemwinders until forced to yield the floor." And, as you read the article, you see that this isn't a complimentary use of stemwinder.

Just to show that this treatment of Kerry was not a one-time affair, by early April 2004, during the heart of the primary season, he was "criticized ...for an aloof, inaccessible style on the stump, and his stemwinders are a constant worry for supporters of his White House bid." And then, only the week before the general election, on October 26, 2004, Kerry's appearance in a Reno, NV sports arena is described as follows: "he outlasted some audience members with a 50-minute stemwinder." John Kerry, as we see, brought the "boring" meaning of stemwinder to the fore, even though the most recent appearances of the term in the Times use it in the context of a "forceful" speech.

Conclusion--The Blogs

This divided picture of the word stemwinder is also reflected in the blogs. Several refer to Bill Clinton's long-windedness as his tendency toward giving stemwinders. But then, there are several appearances of stemwinder in it populist, rhetoric-rich, forceful meaning. Bill Clinton's 1988 speech at the Democratic convention, however, is often now cited as a modern stemwinder in the negative sense. Thus we see how a good word, with a clear meaning, has become almost irretrievably confused because now it can mean its opposite. When that is the case, you are starting to lose a good word.

[*From above: I received an email from a reader, Brett Clippingdale. He writes: Here's a new one, from the new (late Feb. 2008) edition of Newsweek:

"In 1989, she was assigned to mentor a young, unconventional summer associate by the name of Barack Obama. Michelle was unimpressed by the office gossip about the hotshot Harvard Law student, a biracial intern from Hawaii whom she dismissed as "a black guy who can talk straight." But she was disarmed by his confidence. He walked up to her one day and said, "I think we should go out on a date." She resisted, thinking it was inappropriate. She dropped her guard after he asked her to go to one of his community-organizing sessions in a church basement, where he delivered a stemwinding speech about closing the gap between what he called "the world as it is, and the world as it should be."

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