Talk:snap election

Tea room convo

• Wiktionary:Tea room/2019/August § snap election, snap (adjective). Canonicalization (talk) 16:00, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

RFD discussion: August 2019–February 2020

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snap election

SOP: snap ("done, performed, made, etc. quickly and without deliberation") + election. Cf. snap decision, snap judgment, snap convention. Canonicalization (talk) 19:43, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

Keep - as I understand it it is not the definition of snap you give (there can be quite a lot of deliberation and it may not happen quickly) but rather a snap election is one which happens before it was otherwise scheduled. I think it is a specific term of art in politics/elections and not SOP. I could be wrong. - TheDaveRoss 21:00, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

Keep. It's a political tactic or gamble which may or may not work for the incumbent government. We are likely to have one in Britain later this year the way things are going. DonnanZ (talk) 21:28, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

But you're not even a Brit, you're a Kiwi! Canonicalization (talk) 21:31, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, they could have snap elections in Kiwiland too. I have been living in England since 1971, and I am entitled to vote in all elections held where I live. That doesn't apply to NZers coming to live here now, laws have changed. DonnanZ (talk) 21:40, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

Keep - it is not just done quickly, and it is often done with a lot of deliberation. Unlike that meaning of snap, which is sort of spur-of-the-moment, a snap election is just one that occurs before the regularly scheduled time. Kiwima (talk) 22:02, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

To me, "snap election" means "snap" + "election", and if the definition of "snap" presently doesn't seem to exactly fit this usage then it is more an issue with the definition of "snap" than anything else, though I don't see it as a problem myself. However, how many common phrases like this with "snap" are there? I can think of a few, but not many. If there are only a few then we can keep them as set phrases. Mihia (talk) 23:31, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

... Hmm, OK, maybe there are more possibilities than I first thought. In that case, it is just SoP, despite minor quibbles. Mihia (talk) 23:42, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind betting the term was coined by the media, not by politicians. DonnanZ (talk) 10:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't think it really matters who coined it? Mihia (talk) 23:41, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

It might be of interest to an etymology section. I bet this is a variant of the older expression “snap vote” seen here and here.  --Lambiam 10:56, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Snap is being used like an adjective when seen in its various phrases, viz. snap general election, snap presidential election, snap parliamentary election, snap Brexit election, &c. However, one would never say that the election was snap. And a snappier election or the snappiest election can't happen. Hence, I would have to say that snap election is a bit idiomatic in speech, although one could argue that snap is just an adjective that is just very restrictive in how it can be used in this sense. -Mike (talk) 16:11, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Snap can be an adjective, see snap#Adjective, Oxford agrees with this. Not all adjectives need to be comparable though. DonnanZ (talk) 19:10, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

It doesn't pass the usual tests for adjectivity though, which makes me suspect a nominal origin. Canonicalization (talk) 11:14, 25 August 2019 (UTC)

It is similar to attributive instant in the sense of immediacy, which we also label as an adjective, but which also fails all usual tests, like you can’t say, *“these noodles are very instant”. What it has in common with snap is that these are attributes stemming from a longer prepositional phrase: in a snap, in an instant. Compare also the much rarer but attestable attributive use of jiffy: a jiffy meal, quick, jiffy, pre-made foods, the jiffy technology of the moment, jiffy spinal tap.  --Lambiam 09:33, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

We never hear of an "instant" general election though; elections once called cannot usually take place until a certain time has passed, say three weeks to election day. A snap election may be a surprise to those who don't follow political events, but is premeditated by the party in government. The reason for calling one may backfire; the party in government may want to increase their majority but end up losing the election. That's democracy for you. DonnanZ (talk) 10:31, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

DonnanZ, I think you are being a bit too literal. Lambiam was giving an analogy, so the function of snap in snap election is similar to instant in instant coffee. A snap election doesn't have to be a surprise, but it does not occur at a normally expected date or end of term. It is an election that can happen quickly, in a relatively short period of time. -Mike (talk) 15:52, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

Keep in parliamentary countries it denotes a very specific, highly regulated election process, whose characteristics are not intuitively derived from the word snap alone, esp. for people like me who live in a presidency-based democratic country. Born2bgratis (talk) 14:33, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

Keep for reasons above. Also, this might pass WT:THUB based on Norwegian and Swedish. Old Man Consequences (talk) 02:55, 30 November 2019 (UTC)

• RFD kept per consensus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 10:12, 15 February 2020 (UTC)