the.com/bully pulpit
A platform so loud, your opinion becomes everyone's problem.
means A position of high visibility or authority — especially a public office — used as a platform to advocate, persuade, or preach to a wide audience.
from Coined by Theodore Roosevelt, who used 'bully' in its now-faded 19th-century sense meaning 'excellent' or 'first-rate' (as in 'bully for you!') — not the schoolyard-tormentor sense. Roosevelt called the presidency a 'bully pulpit,' meaning a splendid platform for preaching his views to the nation. The word's meaning shifted underneath the phrase, so modern ears hear a tyrant's megaphone where Roosevelt meant a first-rate soapbox.
- origin
- bully meant great to Teddy Roosevelt, not mean
- coined by
- Roosevelt calling the presidency itself
- irony
- name sounds aggressive, originally meant terrific
- modern use
- any high office used to push opinions loudly