Gridlock speak: a guide to key terms.

• Position: Brief article - Glossary

FILIBUSTER A way for senators to delay or block a vote on legislation by speaking... and speaking... and speaking. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina holds the record, with a 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster to block civil rights legislation in 1957.

SUPERMAJORITY Senate rules require 60 votes out of 100--not a simple majority of 51--to block filibusters and let legislation come up for a vote.

GERRYMANDERING In the process of redistricting--the redrawing of election district lines every 10 years based on the most recent census results--state officials often try to help incumbents win re-election by packing in as many members of the incumbents' party as possible. This practice, which often results in bizarrely shaped districts, is known as gerrymandering. (The term goes back to 1812, when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry oversaw the creation of a strangely drawn election district near Boston that looked like a salamander.) Gerrymandering often...