dog whistles
Hidden political messaging
Dog whistles are high-pitched whistles audible to dogs but not humans, used in training.
The political sense dominates current usage: coded language that conveys one message to the general public while signaling something more specific—often racist or otherwise controversial—to a target audience.
Critics called the candidate's "law and order" rhetoric a dog whistle for racial profiling.
- codedConverted to symbols
- coded languageCommunication using concealed meanings
- plausible deniabilityArranged protection from accountability
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- hintsIndirect suggestions
hate speech · welfare queen · inner city · urban crime · subtext · innuendo · propaganda · undertone · implication · nationalism · law and order · family values · connotation · states' rights · nuance · suggestion · insinuation · framing
- campaign jargonstump speech, talking points, sound bites, soundbite, soundbites
- Hidden Meaningssubtext, hidden meaning, coded messages, secret codes, cipher
- political tacticscampaigning, gerrymandering, filibuster, campaigns, voter suppression
- subculture signalsgang signs, hand signs, secret handshakes, coded language, code words
- provocationbaiting, goading, taunting, incitement, instigation
- social codessocial norms, social norm, unwritten rule, unspoken rule, unspoken rules
dog whistlesplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
saying the quiet part loud · straight talk · calling a spade a spade · candor · unvarnished truth