The Perfect Dog Whistle: How Coded Language Works in Politics

One of the most extreme politicians in the AfD is about to stand trial. Did he knowingly use a Nazi slogan?

A political dog whistle is a phrase that sounds harmless to most listeners but carries a coded message for a specific audience. In modern politics, dog whistles allow politicians to signal intent, identity or hostility without saying anything overt — offering plausible deniability while still activating strong emotional responses. This article explains how political dog whistles work, why they are effective, and why they have become a defining feature of contemporary political language.

Dear Reader,

The accusation that a word or phrase used by a politician is a ‘dog whistle’ - i.e. it is pitched at a frequency that most listeners can’t hear but sends a clear message to a specific clientele - has become a journalistic cliché in recent years.

If you listen to the German left, Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz loves to deploy dog whistle phrases to win over voters that have migrated to the AfD.

After Merz told a Bavarian beer tent last summer that “Kreuzberg isn’t Germany, Gillamoos is Germany,” the accusation that this was “a shrill dog whistle” followed as surely as night follows day.

(For readers outside Germany: Kreuzberg is a hip Berlin neighbourhood with a large Turkish community, while Gillamoos is an ancient Bavarian beer festival.)

Think what you want about Merz’ attempts to rouse a tent full of Bavarian drunks, there is no dog whistle - i.e. no secret code - in this phrase.

Everyone in Germany knows exactly what a politician means when he says Kreuzberg, and most know what they mean when they say Gillamoos. The former is short-form for falafel and multi-kulti, the latter for bratwurst and conservatism.

By this standard, you could accuse the left-wing press of blowing a dog whistle every time they mention the fact that Merz owns a private jet. The unspoken insinuation is clear: men who fly their own jets will only look out for the rich.

The inflationary use of this language is counter productive. It means that people don't pay enough attention when dog whistles are actually used.

In Germany in particular, dog whistles are a sinister aspect of far-right politics that signal to a particular type of voter your secret admiration for the Nazis.

How dog whistles shape political discourse in Germany