Sinistrosphere (left blogosphere)
“Sinistrosphere” (often misspelled “sinestrosphere”) is the politically “left blogosphere.” (“Sinistro-” is Latin for “left.”) The term “sinistrosphere” has been cited in print since at least July 2005 and has been used most frequently on the Ace of Spades HQ conservative blog.
“Leftosphere” (since March 2006) is another term for “sinistrosphere.”
The opposite of leftosphere/sinistrosphere is “rightosphere” (since May 2005) or “dextrosphere” (since April 2005).
(Oxford English Dictionary)
sinistro-
used as combining form of SINISTER, in the sense ‘on, situated in, directed or turning towards the left’, as sinistro-cerebral, -gyrate, -gyric adjs.; sinistro-sacrad adv.
Ace of Spades HQ
July 31, 2005
The Sinistrosphere Defends Air America
The One Ring
wntrmute
Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 7:35 pm
(...)
Other things I learned from these useless blogs:
1) a Republican fundraiser is being indicted for being a sleazebag and getting fraudulent loans
2) the DOD knew about four of the 9/11 hijackers in 1999 but Reno and one of the 9/11 commission members prevented that knowledge from getting forwarded to the FBI
3) Tamil Tigers are blamed for the assassination of a Sri Lankan minister
4) the sinistrosphere is jumping on Katherine Harris’s appearance, (I suppose that’s because according to feminist thought women should only be judged by their appearance.)
Ace of Spades HQ
August 17, 2005
Saint Cindy Opposed Afghanistan Operation, Too
(...)
She’s a left-liberal ultra-pacifist conspiracy theorist, trafficking in the looniest and most discredited of sinestrophere ravings
World Wide Words (December 16, 2005)
SINISTROSPHERE This has started to appear online as a disparaging collective term for bloggers with left-wing political affiliations. Its opposite is the dextrosphere, a sweeter-sounding and much less sinister term. Both words are based on “blogosphere”, a collective term for the whole blogging environment. [My thanks to Barry Popik and Ben Zimmer for these references.]
Through the Smoke…
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Sinistrosphere, Dextrosphere, The Chosen, and the Birth of the Curmudgeosphere
From World Wide Words:
SINISTROSPHERE This has started to appear online as a disparaging collective term for bloggers with left-wing political affiliations. Its opposite is the dextrosphere, a sweeter-sounding and much less sinister term. Both words are based on “blogosphere”, a collective term for the whole blogging environment.
Ace of Spades HQ
June 22, 2006
The Sinestrosphere As Alterate Political Party?
(...)
It occurs to me that the dextrosphere (right-blogosphere) and sinestrosphere (left-blogosphere) may be following two different models.
The dextrosphere disagrees with each other, bickers, argues, etc., all in public. It’s pretty transparent—readers aren’t missing anything going on behind the scenes. Sure, emails are exchanged, but of a “Check this out” variety. They’re tips, not attempts to coordinate messaging.
The dextrosphere attempts, to the extent possible, to be an alternative media.
(...)
But the sinestrosphere seems to be based on a different model. This secret message board for coordinating messages-of-the-day… it’s the same as the DNC’s or RNC’s blast-faxes. And debating stories and opinions behind the scenes, focus-group testing them, agreeing on a common narrative?
That’s not really something a media does.
That’s something a political party does.