Jingoism is an attitude of boastful, warlike patriotism. A person who takes such an attitude is called a jingo. The term originated in Britain during the 1870’s. The British government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, hesitated to interfere in a war between Russia and Turkey. The term jingo came from this stanza in a song sung in a London music hall:
We don’t want to fight, But, by jingo, if we do, We’ve got the ships, We’ve got the men, We’ve got the money, too.
The same attitude of militant superiority toward other nations was called spread-eagleism in the United States during the 1800’s.
