Irene Sheehan, age 15, of Concord, N.H., for her question:

WHERE DID THE WORD GERRYMANDER COME FROM?

Gerrymander is the practice of dividing a city, state or country into voting districts in an unfair way. The gerrymander is generally used by a party in power as a way of keeping its power.

The word comes from the name of Gov. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.

A bill passed by the state legislature in 1812 divided Massachusetts into districts for the election of state senators. This division grouped together certain counties which had large Federalist majorities. In this way, the Federalists could win only a few seats in the legislature by huge majorities, while their opponents could win many more seats by small majorities.

One of the new districts had a shape much like that of a mystical animal. Some people said it looked like a salamander, but one sharp political observer suggested that it should be called a "gerrymander."

The word became popular with the Federalists and later became part of the American language. Some state constitutions now forbid gerrymandering.