All the rage?

Reader question:

Please explain this headline: In Republican race, rage is all the rage.

My comments:

Let’s assume this is the American Republican race for public office, Republican being one of two political parties in the United States. The other is the Democratic Party.

Now, rage is all the rage?

The first “rage” refers to the word’s literally meaning, anger (including angry words directed at political opponents).

The second “rage”, in “all the rage”, refers to not anger but craze or fanatic enthusiasm in pursuing a certain social fashion or activity. For example, a few years ago, brisk walking was the rage among Beijing’s fortysomethings, Beijingers who are in their 40s.

The word “rage”, by the way, “comes through French from Latin rabies, ‘frenzy, rage, madness’”, according to StackEnglishExchange.com. “The English word apparently went from rage ‘vehement passion’ to the fixed phrase the rage meaning ‘the latest fad’.”

In our example, “rage is the rage” means angry rhetoric is the thing in Republican politics. Not only getting away with it, candidates seem to get more popular by showing anger and fury towards certain social conditions or groups.

For example, led by President Donald Trump, Republicans thrive on calling illegal immigrants criminals, showing contempt for women and minority groups, using derogative language on the LGBTQ community, etc. and so forth.

In other words, sounding crazy and out of control is the rage or, indeed, the craze.

In everyday English, it is the thing to do.

And do it too, while they can, for anything that is the rage, like fashion in clothes or any other fad, will fade.

Sometimes very quickly.

All right, no more ado, let’s read a few media examples of “the rage” or “all the rage:

1. Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge could be set to become the next Doctor Who after betting odds in her favour tumbled.

Peter Capaldi has portrayed the eccentric time lord since 2014 and is set to bow out of the role this Christmas. Previous actors who have held the coveted position of The Doctor include Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith.

Since the announcement of his departure, bets have been taken for Capaldi’s replacement. Today (March 29) Waller-Bridge’s odds have dramatically dropped from 20/1 to 2/1.

Her main competition comes from Kris Marshall who starred in Love, Actually, My Family and a series of BT adverts.

Ladbrokes have recently stopped taking bets on Marshall, with the betting agent’s Alex Donohue telling The Daily Mail; “A surge of punters have backed Marshall so we’ve had no choice but to close the book. If he does get the gig, the bookies will be exterminated first.”

Speaking of Waller-Bridge, Donohue said she is “all the rage” with the punters.

“Her odds of being the next Doctor Who have collapsed from 20/1 to 2/1 since Monday morning and we’re on red alert, keeping an eye out for any more telling bets,” he said, going on to say the sudden rush of support for Waller-Bridge “suggests the race to become TV’s next Time Lord is swinging in her favour.”

- Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge to become the next Doctor Who? NME.com, March 29, 2017.

2. It is perhaps time to stop wondering what The Donald’s got that the others ain’t got.

What he’s got is conservative America’s number, which has less to do with policy or political purity than with an evolutionary tic that’s been developing for decades.

It also has little to do with social issues, other candidates might note, though some values-voters may also like Trump. Nor is it exclusively the economy, stupid – that cannonball of wisdom forever shackled to James Carville’s name.

Trump’s fans may have revealed themselves to be ABDs (All But Democrats) because Trump is an ABD. But for his recent conversions – pro-life with exceptions, walls make good immigration policy and repeal-and-replace Obamacare “with something terrific!” – he would be giving Hillary Clinton a primary election run for her money (and possibly some of his).

As recently as Tuesday, he wasn’t jumping on the anti-Planned Parenthood bandwagon, though he did say that no federal funds should go to abortion, which is pretty safe because federal abortion funding is disallowed under current law.

What Trump primarily has is a manner of speaking. (And how.) His many outbursts, insults and invectives are by now familiar enough to be boring, and not at all the point.

The point is what he said to Fox News’ Megyn Kelly during the first debate when she asked about disparaging remarks he has made about women and whether he has the temperament to be president. Trump, who frequently reminds us that he’s a very busy man, said he didn’t have time for such political correctness. Huh?

It was a fair question in my book and probably to most women. It was not a “politically correct” question, as Trump insisted, nor do his intemperate words measure up to the kind of serious scrutiny that true political correctness does.

An insult is not the same as stifling ideas or political thought, as has been the rage – if I may use that word in the absence of a “safe zone” – on many college campuses and often wherever bureaucrats gather.

But mention political correctness to a constituency that despises an increasingly alien (PC correction: unfamiliar) country whose core principles are routinely ridiculed by popular culture and who perceive illegal immigrants (PC correction: undocumented workers) as receiving greater deference than hard-working Americans barely scraping by and you, my friend, are a hero.

The fact that Trump has emerged not only unscathed but triumphant after his subsequent and disgusting remarks about Kelly, whom he described post-debate as having “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” speaks trumpets and trombones to critics’ shakers, scrapers and cowbells.

Trumpists, like Honey Badger, don’t care.

- The meaning of Trump, ChicagoTribune.com, June 15, 2018.

3. Daniel Radcliffe became a household name when he was cast in the Harry Potter movies. The franchise, created by J.K. Rowling, was the rage of the late 90s through the 2010s when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II was released in 2011. Since he has taken on a career that spans Broadway, television shows, horror movies, and more. During press for his new show, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, Radcliffe was asked about the new adaptation of Harry Potter coming to HBO. And Radcliffe has a request as well.

Speaking with Screen Rant, Radcliffe was asked about the new series. The HBO show already has an uphill battle with many fans rightfully angry about Rowling benefiting from a new show, given her social media posts and attacks against the trans community. But many agree that the children of the franchise are not to blame for Rowling's actions, and Radcliffe, who has spoken out against Rowling himself, shared a lovely message for Dominic McLaughlin, who is playing young Mr. Potter in the series.

“I’m sure Dominic is going to be better than me,” Radcliffe said. “I learned as I went. I look back on what I did now with a lot more kindness, and I find it less embarrassing now that I’m older. But I was very much learning how to do it for a long time on Potter.” When Radcliffe joined the franchise, he was the same age that McLaughlin is now. But McLaughlin does have the luxury of knowing how popular the franchise was for an entire generation of adults now.

Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Radcliffe have all been asked about the franchise for decades at this point. But Radcliffe did share that he wants people to quit asking the original Golden Trio what they think of the new actors taking on their iconic roles. “When these kids got cast, there’s a whole thing around the internet, around the world, people being like, ‘We’ve got to look after these kids,'” he said. “I was like, ‘If you mean that, if everyone really means what they are saying, then one of the things you can do for me is not ask about me and Rupert [Grint about it] all the time.’ I would like not to be weird spectral phantoms in these children’s lives, and just to let them, like, get on it. Because it’s going to be a new thing.”

- Daniel Radcliffe Boldly Claims the New Harry Potter Will Be “Better Than” Him, Collider.com, February 17, 2026.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）