A Minor Musing: Democrats, Shanghaiing, And Bush-League Edition

When I was young, people who were pressured into doing something they would have preferred not to do claimed that they had been shanghaied. Used informally, the verb means to "coerce or trick (someone) into a place or position or into doing something:" Another word one doesn't often hear is the term "bush-league." Maybe only old  baseball fans keep its usage alive when they want to refer to an action or event that is "of an inferior class or group of its kind :  marked by a lack of sophistication or professionalism."

If true, this "skuttlebutt" from Northern Plains News provides a classic example of both words being put into action.

• Heard through the grapevine that several Sioux Falls area Democrats who were on the ballot for legislative races as placeholders asked for but received no help from the state party to get off the ballot. My source indicated this was the idea all along.

Having been a teacher for a long time, I have learned through hard experience that some folks need to see the definition along with an example, and they also need to see the words used in a sentence that explains the example. I offer the following:

When South Dakota Democrats ask someone to help out and serve as a placeholder but then fail to assist the placeholder who seeks to remove his or her name from the ballot, they are, in effect, shanghaiing the person into serving as a candidate. These actions epitomize bush-league behavior and weaken efforts to be taken seriously as a party. 

 I'm not a Democrat, but if I were and discovered the rumor to be accurate, I would be calling for someone's head over this rude bungling.