Talk:Geddes Axe

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Geddes Axe

RfD-sense: (UK) The implementation of spending cuts by Geddes in the 1920s.

The historical event belongs only in the etymology, IMO. The second sense could use some citations to make sure our definition is correct. DCDuring TALK 11:47, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Is this the capitalization used? Not "Geddes axe"? DCDuring TALK 11:50, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Seems like a proper noun, like the Great Depression or the Great Vowel Shift. Mglovesfun (talk) 11:57, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I did provide a citation for the second sense on the citations page. This has been left behind after DCDuring moved the page to remove the possesive. By the way, the citation uses the possesive form. The first sense is not entirely purely historical, the term has seen a recent revival to describe the sweeping spending cuts being implemented by the present British coalition government e.g Daily Telegraph article. SpinningSpark 22:31, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Here is another citation for the second sense. "Indeed, the very exactations of Henry III to beautify this gloriious edifice brought into the field the parliamentary regime. In those days the nation's representatives wished to apply something curiously like the 'Geddes axe' to his building propensities." New Zealand Evening Post SpinningSpark 22:58, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

It's nice to get three cites in the same sense and the same spelling/capitalization/punctuation (hyphen for attributive use is OK). It helps if it is the most common form. "Geddes Axe" and "Geddes axe" seem the most common forms by far. To make it clear that they writers or scanners are making mistakes, the majority of the usage is of "the Geddes a/Axe". Which is the more common spelling? DCDuring TALK 23:24, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Original cite (why was this not moved with the entry? - it is bad form to move an entry away from its citations page and then claim it has no cites)

• 1923 — Rupert T. Gould, The Marine Chronometer, p.209, Holland Press 1960.
• The necessity for its maker, if he wishes to remain in business, to produce an efficient machine which shall at the same time be cheap, and therefore must be as simple as possible, has acted as a kind of "Geddes' Axe," sweeping away a number of inessential contrivances...

From the Telegraph article linked above (two different capitalisations in the same article)

• Britain's public sector faces the Geddes axe (9 November 2009)
• In the 1920s, a massive reversal in public spending growth was achieved under a draconian programme of cuts known as the “Geddes Axe” (9 November 2009)
• The cuts that an incoming Conservative government will need to make will be the most severe since the 1920s, when the Geddes Axe was wielded. Daily Telegraph, 28 Apr 2010
• Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the Geddes Axe was that it seemed to work as a political tool. BBC News 4 March 2010
• Mr Herbert said they would agree to a review of service man-power, "but to an unintelligent Geddes axe, decidedly no!" Glasgow Herald May 29, 1947
• The Geddes Axe, now lodged in the demonology of Leftist history, made a significant contribution to the rebalancing of the public finances in the aftermath of the First World War. Scotland on Sunday 24 April 2010
• Somebody must be at fault, he declared, to allow "courts" or "closes" as they had in the neighbourhood of St. Giles'. "Probably," he added, "you have wielded the Geddes axe instead of Jenny Geddes's steel." The Glasgow Herald Sep 9, 1938

SpinningSpark 21:25, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

One more to show Americans have heard of it too,

• ...indulging for two years in costly adventures, then bowing knee and neck in abject servility to the Geddes axe... New York Times January 24, 1922

SpinningSpark 21:33, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

• I'm not sure about this, it seems encyclopaedic to me. Perhaps compare something like the Beeching cuts which got rid of half the rail lines in Britain in the...I dunno, 60s? Doesn't seem something for a dictionary. Ƿidsiþ 19:41, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

• I would say that at least three of the citations (Gould 1923, Glasgow Herald 1936 and 1947) are using the phrase in an allegorical sense rather than referring to the original events directly. The phrase has taken on a meaning beyond its historical origins. SpinningSpark 13:50, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

deleted -- Liliana • 15:57, 29 July 2011 (UTC)