HARRISBURG, Pa. — Governor Josh Shapiro has a new slogan for how he wants to govern Pennsylvania — and it’s not for the ears of children.
“We have a GSD attitude in the Shapiro administration, which means we are focused on getting things done,” he told a news conference Monday with local officials from the Johnstown YMCA. “There are kids here, so we just say ‘things’.”
That was the G version of the line that he delivered in recent months. Every now and then Shapiro just comes out and says, “Get it done.”
The term has become the governing philosophy and brand of Shapiro, a freshman governor considered a rising star in the Democratic Party and among a handful of governors building their national profile and positioning themselves for a run for the White House in 2028.
The S-word was part of comedian George Carlin’s routine “The Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV,” which got him arrested during a Milwaukee show in 1972 and led to a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which the authority of the government was maintained. sanctions on radio stations for broadcasting offensive language.
Now?
Shapiro debuted the S-word slogan last June in Philadelphia when he announced the reopening of a section of Interstate 95 that had collapsed in a tractor-trailer accident 12 days earlier.
He has since brought up the phrase during a few other speeches, usually substituting “things.” He uses the initials “GSD” to name his latest statewide media tour and on his website to tout his achievements. His social media team has also used the phrase in videos online.
Shapiro is not the kind of norm-breaking politician you would expect to swear in public.
The 50-year-old son of a doctor and former state lawmaker, county commissioner and attorney general is widely regarded as a relatively secretive politician who carefully controls his messages. He is also not known for his casual insults in private.
Shapiro has long held the philosophy that government should get things done for the people, and the saying was used frequently between campaign staff and Shapiro during the 2022 campaign, said his press secretary, Manuel Bonder.
Neither the campaign nor the governor’s office have elaborated or grouped the slogan to see what kind of public reception it might get, Bonder said.
“It’s something that’s representative of how the governor thinks about governing and leading and trying to make government work more efficiently and get things done for the people,” Bonder said. “It’s something based on that philosophy.”
Either way, the saying has prompted eye rolls from the insiders who hear it most.
“When I first heard it, I thought it was inappropriate for a governor, but I think I’m getting used to it,” said state Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon. “I still cringe. You don’t hear that very often from a civil servant. Are we lowering the bar now? I think the bar can be lower.”
There are also grumblings that Shapiro is taking credit for things lawmakers worked for long before he took office a year ago.
“With all due respect, Governor, we did this before your term,” Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, wrote in response to a post from Shapiro on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The saying is not necessarily original.
In 2012, then-California Governor Jerry Brown abruptly used the phrase during a press conference expressing support for a multi-billion dollar water project.
Swearing among politicians is not necessarily new, although it is breaking more and more taboos.
It started picking up in earnest about seven to eight years ago, likely coinciding with the increasing use of social media that allows academics to better measure language use, says Benjamin Bergen, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California-San Diego. studies language, including profanity.
Donald Trump – labeled a “profanity president” in a 2019 New York Times headline for his use of obscenities during speeches or rallies – had a lot to do with breaking the staid way politicians communicate, says Jennifer Mercieca, professor communication. and journalism at Texas A&M who studies political rhetoric.
Yet Mercieca couldn’t think of another politician who had adopted a slogan with a swear word.
“It is now probably the new normal to expect that post-Trump politicians will be freer under the guise of authenticity and say things they think will be said in a way that people themselves would say,” Mercieca said.
One of Shapiro’s fellow Pennsylvania Democrats, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, routinely cursed on social media as he en route to winning the Senate seat in 2022. Still, Fetterman — known for his blunt and irreverent talk — limited his profanity about the generally to his writings on social media when describing his disdain for, for example, Pennsylvania’s relatively low minimum wage.
There is scientific research into the effects of swearing by politicians.
It shows that people generally judge politicians who swear the same way they judge anyone else who swears, Bergen said. It largely depends on the appropriateness of the context, he said.
“On the positive side, people tend to rate politicians who swear as more authentic or truthful,” Bergen said. “On the negative side, they tend to judge them as more out of control, less aware of or conforming to social norms.”
Whatever the case, attitudes toward the S-word have changed in recent decades and it has lost much of its power as a swear word, Bergen said.
The word may be taboo among older adults, for example, but Bergen asks his freshman class every year to rank curse words, and “s…” barely registers anymore.
“It’s just as insulting as ‘loser,’” Bergen said.
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