Among the evolving definitions of “cabinet” provided by the Online Etymology Dictionary (OED) is the 16th-century “secret storehouse, treasure chamber or case for valuables”.
I’m not sure if any of those apply to South Africa’s yet-to-be reshuffled ministerial cabinet, but in the late 17th century, a cabinet became “part of a building set aside for the conservation of antiquities”. That might be closer to the mark.
You can buy old cabinets on auction, but unfortunately these are merely pieces of furniture and not executive councils.
I wonder where the bidding would start and end were our president to put our current crop of cabineteers up for auction? Maybe he should start attending auctions for more valuable and less preloved cabinets.
There are global arguments about the prepositions involved with auctions. We South Africans tend to say “put up for auction”. In England, they say “sold by auction” and in the US, “sold at auction”.
Horses and other large animals are renowned for being sold at or by auction. Ankole cattle in particular fetch huge prices, not so much for their beauty as for their lean and delicious flesh.
If our president goes down in history for anything remarkable, it will be for introducing the Ankole cattle breed into South Africa.
In America these animals are called Ankole-Watusi and have become extremely popular since they were imported from Africa, particularly for their ability to adapt to almost any environmental conditions.
Glenneis Kriel, writing for South Africa Online, tells us that Ankole cattle “can be traced back to the hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians and have formed part of the longhorn cattle tribes for more than 6,000 years.
By migrating down the Nile River, the breed found their way to Uganda … The Banyankole people in western Uganda, after whom the Ankole were named, believe the breed was created by God.”
Some are suggesting that our president’s bout of flu was contracted during his recent meeting with his Ugandan counterpart.
The two leaders have long had a connection via bovine creatures. Kriel further informs us that: “South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made history when in 2004 he brought the first Ankole genetics into South Africa.
He is said to have gained interest in the cattle after a visit to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, but was unable to bring live animals into South Africa because of inadequate disease control measures in Uganda.”
If our president goes down in history for anything remarkable, it will be for introducing the Ankole cattle breed into South Africa
Mad cow disease is not mentioned in the article.
One of the defining characteristics of Ankole cattle is their enormous, spreading horns.
These benefit them by ensuring that they are raised in fields, or are “grass-fed” as restaurant menus put it, because the horns make it almost impossible for them to be shoved together in feedlots. Ankoles cannot eat from the same trough.
Incidentally, the word “shove” comes from the same root as “shuffle” and “scuffle”.
The verb “to shove”, meaning “to move by pushing” was, says the OED, more than likely adapted from the Middle English “shouven” — to thrust away with violence. Perhaps this is why we have the saying “when push comes to shove”.
“Scuffle”, from the same parent, means “to push or fight in a disorderly manner” or to “struggle confusedly at close quarters”.
As for shuffle, in the 1530s it meant “to put together hastily”, which paradoxically was an adaptation of the Old English “shovelen”, meaning “to move with dragging feet”.
There is, if you ask me, quite a leap from a word that means slow to one that means unthinkingly fast, but that’s language for you. And also politics.
Incidentally, “reshuffle” entered English in the 19th century as a word used when playing card games, as in “to reshuffle the pack”. This was to make the sequence and choice of cards unpredictable, which also seems to be the case with some cabinets.
In the 1890s, reshuffle extended its reach to the redistribution of posts or positions within mostly governmental organisations.
Reshuffle is one of many idioms associated with card playing. Others include: “to overplay one’s hand”; “to know when to hold them; know when to fold them”; “to be above board”; “to have an Ace in the hole”; “to cash in one’s chips”; and “to call someone’s bluff”.
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