[Lexicog] Spin DOCTOR

[Fritz Goerling]

If this is the analogy, then how is doctor in "spin doctor" and "vodoo
doctor/witch-doctor" used?
In the latter case is see  "doctor"  as someone with special powers, while
my feeling is that
in "spin doctor" the reference is to someone who "doctors" information. But
it could also
mean a specialist in "spin." Or both?

Fritz


  The metaphorical sense of "put a [positive or negative] spin" on some
  piece of news/information has been around for quite awhile. But I recall
  some discussions on network TV a decade or so ago after the Republican
  party held its nominating convention in New Orleans (I think when the
  Bush-Quayle ticket was nominated) about the emergence during the
  convention of the term "spin doctor", which was (folk?-)etymologized as
  being formed on the analogy of "voodoo doctor", a common practitioner in
  New Orleans.

        Rudy







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