Gordon Cobb: King of the Gruntlings CAMPBELL WEBSTER
The Guardian
As the world goes ga-ga about the pending inauguration of Barack Obama, everybody, including Canadians, are looking for their special connection to his presidency. CBC’s The National ran a story about two Canadian (brace yourself) horses that will be part of the official ceremonies.
And closer to home, we have some more tangible connections to recent presidential events.
Georgetown Mayor Peter Llewellyn was seemingly inspired by the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at George W. Bush, when he threatened to launch his own footwear at Eastern School District superintendent Sandy MacDonald. (Does this mean the mayor equates the closing of an elementary school with the invasion of Iraq or he is just following in the tradition of mayoralty tantrum politics so well practised by many small-town mayors across our land?)
And in a more oblique connection to presidential politics, the provincial government took the unusual step of dismissing the resignation of Minister Richard Brown’s adviser Gordon Cobb by describing him as “... a disgruntled employee ...” This is not exactly the same as Bill Clinton’s derision of Monica Lewinsky, as “... that woman, Ms. Lewinsky ...” but it has a similar effect: It uses language (disgruntled and employee) which subtly questions the status and temperament of Mr. Cobb. (How often have you heard the term “disgruntled employee” in a news item about a guy who just shot up half his co-workers in his former workplace? Does the government believe Mr. Cobb is stockpiling ammo clips?)
Whether it was intentional or not, the language itself bears some examination, if only because Mr. Brown and Mr. Cobb have long and storied histories within their party. Mr. Brown has consistently been an enthusiast of community service, and his championing of social progress for the Island has been sincere and well-thought-out. Of note is that the PNP program, which most of this hullabaloo seems to be about, has actually been of unprecedented value to the Island. As one of the three or four senior Island chartered accountants observed in private a few weeks ago, “The PNP program may make Prince Edward Island largely immune to the worst of the current economic crisis.” Quite a feat for one small Island. Mr. Brown should get some of the credit for that.
But what of Mr. Cobb, whose work includes a near spotless record as an assistant to Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay and as a key strategist to Dalton McGuinty’s successful leadership campaign for the Ontario Liberal party? Can he be fairly described as disgruntled? To answer the disgruntled question, it may be wise to examine the definition of disgruntled, and its presumed antithesis, gruntled. Yes, there is such a word. Gruntled. (And if Mr. Cobb is disgruntled, he must be the opposite of gruntled.)
Gruntled is a back-formation of the word disgruntled, meaning it came into use after disgruntled and, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means, “to put in good humour.” The definition cites an example from literature in 1926 by author W.P. Webb when he wrote that people “... were gruntled with a good meal and good conversation.”
Given this definition, and given what those people who know him socially have observed, Mr. Cobb spends a great deal of his life gruntled with good meals and good conversations. To use another term, Mr. Cobb can easily be described as a boulevardier — roughly speaking, an eminently gregarious conversationalist, spreading good cheer and stimulating conversation up and down the boulevards of his community. Or in other words, Gordon Cobb is quite decidedly gruntled most of the time.
Shoe hurling by a decidedly disgruntled mayor, Canadian inaugural parade horses and Mr. Cobb’s resignation may seem like trivial connections to U.S. presidential politics, but there is universality to the practice of politics and political language.
And in this regard it is important to take stock of what words actually suggest. For it could be argued by Mr. Cobb’s friends and associates that he is the King of the Gruntlings, and anything but disgruntled. For gruntling is a noun version of the word, which can mean “a young hog”, but can also mean people who are predominantly good humoured. (And likely unarmed.)
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