The Spectator

Where did ‘heckler’ come from?

A heckler at this year’s Labour party conference [Getty Images] 
issue 28 September 2024

What the heckler

No party conference would be complete without a heckler or two, but where did the term come from? A heckle was originally a tool for combing flax or hemp, and a heckler someone who worked with such a device. The term was first applied to politics in the 1820s when the notoriously militant hecklers of Dundee would disrupt political meetings.

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