Friday 16 September 2005

'Helengrad': Where did it come from?

On the last day of this campaign, and possibly the last day for the citizens of Helengrad to slave under the cruel yoke of this particular oppressor, I thought I'd just muse on where the term 'Helengrad' came from.

I first heard it used by a caller on Lindsay Perigo's radio show only weeks after Mistress Helen's elevation to absolute rule. Perigo naturally picked it up and ran with it thereafter, and it soon appeared on the cover of The Free Radical, advertising that issue's cover story 'The Hooey From Helengrad'. The afternoon that subscribers received their copies, Headmistress Shipley rose in Parliament and asked a question of Her Highness Helen in which the word 'Helengrad' was included. The chamber fell about, and the name stuck.

I believe Fran O'Sullivan and the rest of the world took it up about then, and now Google boasts some 17,900 hits for 'Helengrad.' As Mrs Marsh used to say, "It does get in."

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