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by dragonwriter 382 days ago
The precipitating incident for "tankie" isn't "Tank Man" (or even the Tiananmen Square incident in China in 1989 more generally), but the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 by the invasion by the USSR the same year.
1 comments
aspenmayer 382 days ago
That is helpful context, much appreciated!

Do you know when tankie was first used in this authoritarian socialist sense, or is that what you're saying?

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dragonwriter 382 days ago
> Do you know when tankie was first used in this authoritarian socialist sense, or is that what you're saying?

My understanding is that it was first used in the immediate aftermath of 1956 in internal criticism within the British Communist Party, and gained wider international currency after the Prague Sprint in 1968.

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aspenmayer 382 days ago
Do you have a source? I don't doubt you, I just am looking for good slang sources since I lost my last good one. That is, I used to have a slang dictionary, but I gave it as a gift to someone as a child and have regretted it ever since, as the recipient doesn't seem to have it anymore, and I haven't ever been able to find a decent one before or since, though I haven't really looked very hard. My old one had a lot of old slang common among WWII and other military members and veterans that I've never seen before, for instance.
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