what's the inverse of a dog-whistle?

[kaigou]

Okay, so a "dog-whistle" is the expression for intentional use of a seemingly innocuous word or phrase, that has a double (usually negative/reversed) meaning for a segment of the audience. Is there a word for the unintentional use of a word or phrase that has loaded meaning for a segment of the audience, of which the speaker/writer is unaware?

Frex, if I say, "his economic ideas are a fast track to a green and pleasant land," the use of green and pleasant land is a dog-whistle, to, uhm, anyone who knows their Blake, I guess. (It's an epithet for England.) To the broader audience it sounds positive; to a smaller, in-the-know audience, the combination of "economic" + "england" = "socialism" -- which in the US is currently a Very Dirty Word. It's a way to appear positive (or at least harmless) while signaling a different meaning to a limited part of the audience. [See comments below for alternate/better take on this phrase.]

But what if a segment of the population finds the phrase, hrm, "shades of gray" to be loaded with historical and cultural negativity? If I unintentionally (ignorantly) use this expression such that I create a dual-meaning statement -- one that's positive to the broader audience but potentially negative to a smaller segment, what would this be?

I'm thinking perhaps "land mine".

Granted, if I know of the negative secondary connotations, then I suppose it might be a dog-whistle, but I don't think that really fits -- that expression is most often used to signal to like-minded folks, to draw them closer, like calling in the pack. It's not the same thing when the purpose is to alienate members of the audience. Then it's more like one of those truck deer-whistles that's supposed to warn deer to stay away.

Any ideas? Or is there an existing catchphrase for an reversed dog-whistle? Does that catchphrase imply knowledge even if the speaker denies such (deer-whistle), or does it presume ignorance (land mine)?

Comments

This icon has really been getting a workout lately

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

If ignorance is inherent in the definition, I prefer land-mine. For instance, textual evidence suggests that the author of that horrible novel I read the other day intended readers to get warm and fuzzy feelings every time Mammy Ida was mentioned, not to think "WTF Mammy??!"

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think land-mine probably covers it.

The problem, of course, is when someone knows exactly where the issue is, and plays at ignorance-as-defense when called on it. That, I guess, would be a deer-whistle (or whatever the inverse of dog-whistle is, if there's one already).