TAICHUNG (Taiwan News) — Though the chick’s iron ballots were solid, he faced a five-five wave, so the hen arrived during a rivers and lakes tour as stump leg for the chick hoping for a watermelon nestle to the big side to get frozen garlic on election day.
After all, it was the hen who made three humble visits to the thatched cottage to get the chick to drop from the sky in the first place, and if the chick does not get frozen garlic the hen would look like it was all a mysterious step.
One of the fun aspects of following Taiwanese politics is the unique and colorful vocabulary. Some of it is practical, some profound, and others downright funny. Much of it is distinct to Taiwan. All of it reflects the passionate interest in Taiwanese elections.
Of course, much vocabulary used in politics is not so colorful. Some terms are also directly brought in from American political vocabulary like “swing state” (搖擺州) despite Taiwan having no states, but is used for cities and counties, such as "Taichung is a swing state."
The terminology starts even before candidates are chosen. If there is no primary, there may be “black box” (黑箱) negotiations, or backroom dealings. It appears to have come from English, possibly from the slang term for a flight recorder, but more likely from the term for an opaque system used in engineering and science.
Kneading tang yuan
When more than one person is vying to be the party’s candidate, they may “knead tang yuan,” (搓圓仔湯/搓湯圓/挲圓仔湯/煮圓仔湯) or try offer up something to get a candidate to drop out. This can take many forms, such as offering a different district to run in, a government position, or even outright bribery. There were allegations Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) “kneaded tang yuan” to bribe a candidate to switch districts in the 2010s, but he denied it and the allegations were never proven.
Sometimes politicians look to a “barrel hoop,” (桶箍) which is a neutral or mutually respected person working to bring candidates together as a team. This was used a lot this election cycle as more than one person tried to play the role of barrel hoop to form a unity ticket between Hou and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Sometimes a barrel hoop will negotiate with another party to get one party’s candidate to not run to avoid splitting the ticket against the opposition, and “politely yield” (禮讓). This election cycle the KMT and TPP withdrew a few candidates so that in each case the candidate from either party would only be running against a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate alone. The DPP has done the same in the past as well, for example with the New Power Party (NPP) in 2016 and even with Ko when he ran as an independent for mayor of Taipei, something the DPP probably regrets now.
It is fairly common in Taiwan for politicians to express public disinterest in running for a post, sometimes for genuine reasons but often it is a song and dance show. If a politician already holds a post it would look bad to step down to run for something else, or if a friend or ally is vying for the same position and it would look like betrayal, or even just to look humble, if the party wants the candidate to run they will “make three humble visits to the thatched cottage” (三顧茅廬).
This is when influential party members meet with the candidate to try and convince the person to run. Usually, this will drag on, but when the person feels that the public appearance of being put under a lot of pressure, the person will “reluctantly” become the candidate “for the good of the party.”
Watermelon nestle to the big side
Sometimes a candidate will “drop out of the sky” (空降) and run in a district or location they are not from or associated with. This is similar to the use of “parachute in” to another district in English.
Once the candidates are chosen, it is time to use my favorite terms, “hen” (母雞) and “chicks” (小雞). The hen is a candidate at the top of the ticket and chicks are the downstream ones, for example, a presidential candidate is a hen, and legislative candidates are chicks, or a mayoral candidate and city council candidates. The hen is expected to bring their star power to the campaigns of the chicks to help get them elected. Seeing people arguing vehemently on television talk shows about hens and chicks always gives me a chuckle and never gets old.
What the hen is providing the chicks is a “watermelon nestle to the big side (西瓜偎大邊), which means to ride on the hen’s coattails. According to the Ministry of Education's entry on the term, it first appeared in the news media in the 2008 elections, but they are still “seeking the origin” of the term. It is sometimes now shortened to “watermelon effect” (西瓜效應) or “nestle effect” (依偎效應).
One that may or may not have a connection to American terminology is “stump leg” or “stump role” (樁腳), which is to bring in someone famous to help campaign on behalf of a candidate. However, I was not able to find an etymology for the term, so it is just a guess that it is related to the American “to stump for.”
Opposing campaigns will engage in “land battle” (陸戰, or "land war") and “air battle” (空戰 or "air war") against each other. The land battle is the ground game of the campaign, while the air battle is in the media.
Spit battles
Part of the land battle is to “set in motion a rivers and lakes tour” (動江湖), which is to travel to and campaign in every area the candidate is seeking to represent.
Candidates from major parties can count on the “iron ballots” (鐵票) of partisan loyalists who will vote for their candidate no matter what. However, if the race is a “five-five wave” (五五波, a 50/50 or close race) they had better not take any “mysterious steps” (奧步, bad moves).
As the air battle heats up it is common for “spit battles” (口水戰, mutual mudslinging) to erupt between the candidates in the media.
Sometimes in cases where the mudslinging is really bad and a candidate is accused of something illegal, the other candidate might “get the water meter checked” (查水表), which is to try and get the police to investigate your opponent for political gain. Apparently, this reference came from a Chinese movie where an investigating police officer posed as working for the water company and got access to the suspect’s home by asking to check the water meter.
Online the candidate will have to contend with the “1450” cyber warriors (1450網軍). This term originally was only applied to pan-green cyber warriors and still most commonly is, but it does sometimes appear to be used more generally, though rarely. The term comes from a government agricultural marketing budget under the DPP administration in 2019 that pan-blues alleged was used to fund cyber warriors for partisan use, though the administration denied it and nothing was proven.
Zen saying repeated as cant
Of course, every campaign must have a “zen saying repeated as cant” (口頭禪, slogan). Then at the debates, one must be ready for a “tongue battle” (舌戰, verbal sparring).
While out campaigning, hopefully, many people will call out “frozen garlic” (凍蒜) to the aspiring candidate. This means “get elected” (當選) but spoken in Taiwanese it sounds like “frozen garlic” in Mandarin, and this humorous way of writing it stuck.
When candidates are campaigning in the street passersby will often shout it out in support, and it is used heavily in call-and-response at political rallies. Hence the name of the politics blog Frozen Garlic.
Come election day the last thing to worry about is “irrigating ballots” (灌票, stuffing the ballot box).
