In 1948, worried that young people would take full employment and the welfare state for granted, the Labour Party trialled a new slogan: 'Ask your Dad'. This slogan encouraged the young to learn about the hardships which their parents had experienced in the inter-war years, largely under Conservative governments. Using archived interviews and letters sent to the press, this article provides the first study of the popular reception of this slogan. Most people had not heard of this slogan, and most of those who had heard of the phrase showed no knowledge that it was associated with politics, turning instead to popular culture. Those who understood the slogan were not the passive conduits of their party's message; often, they reworked political ideas to fit their own memories. Because repeating slogans was associated with a lack of political independence, not listening to party politics could conceal an intense interest in creating political change-an attitude which was, apparently, pronounced amongst the young. This article uses these responses to suggest how political language was as much produced by ordinary people's memories and daily discussion, as it was something drawn from professional campaigners.

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2017 年 TCBH Duncan Tanner 论文奖得主

1948 年，工党担心年轻人会认为充分就业和福利国家是理所当然的，于是尝试了一个新口号：“问问你爸爸”。这个口号鼓励年轻人了解他们的父母在两次世界大战期间所经历的艰辛，主要是在保守党政府的领导下。本文使用存档的采访和发送给媒体的信件，首次研究了这一口号的受欢迎程度。大多数人没有听说过这个口号，大多数人听说过这个词，表示不知道它与政治有关，而是转向流行文化。那些理解口号的人不是他们党的信息的被动渠道；通常，他们重新设计政治思想以适应他们自己的记忆。因为重复口号与缺乏政治独立性有关，不听政党政治可能会掩盖对创造政治变革的强烈兴趣——这种态度显然在年轻人中很明显。本文使用这些回应来说明政治语言是如何由普通人的记忆和日常讨论产生的，就像它是从专业竞选者那里汲取的东西一样。