There I was, relaxing one evening, when my phone burbled with a text.
It was my distinguished editor at The Spectator Australia Rowan Dean with a question: ‘who first came up with the brilliant expression “kick the can down the road”?’
Rowan is right—it is a brilliant phrase that captures the sole political tactic of many or our esteemed leaders.
As you probably know ‘kick the can down the road’ (or ‘down the street’—both versions exist) means ‘to delay dealing with a difficult situation.’
There are many methods of ‘kicking the can down the road’—ordering an inquiry (preferably a long, slow inquiry) or saying ‘we can’t consider this until after the budget’ are but two of many.
It’s an American expression first recorded in 1984—in the United States Senate!
(This phrase, with this meaning, has always lived in the world of politics!)
The expression is recorded in the proceedings of the Senate from 1984—specifically in The First Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for the Fiscal Year 1984: Hearings before U.S. Senate Budget Committee: National Security.
That’s a snappy title, isn’t it?
Sounds like perfect bedtime reading.
The immortal words were uttered by United States Airforce General David C. Jones (giving evidence to the senate) when he said: ‘The key question is whether we are going to face up to that problem today or kick the can down the street.’
But for General Jones to have used ‘kick the can down the road / street’ without explanation (and without inverted commas in the official papers) must mean it was already well known, and part of the spoken language.
The image behind the words is clear enough.
When we were small boys it was fun to find an empty tin can (perhaps fallen out of a rubbish bin) and taking turns kicking it down the street as we walked along with our hands in our pockets yarning to each other.
There was no goal and no purpose in our activity.
It was just filled in a bit of time.
Which is exactly what our political masterminds intend when they nod sagely, agree that the problem is serious, and find a way to ‘kick the can down the road’—there’s no goal, and no purpose, except to fill in some time.
During which time they hope we’ll forget all about it.
(But we won’t! We’ll remember it when we hold that pencil in our hand in the polling booth!)
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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