member for Barkshire
A person who has a cough which causes them to sound as if they are barking.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He is the member for Barkshire because of his loud cough.”
“You sound like the member for Barkshire with that dry cough.”
“Is the member for Barkshire joining us for dinner tonight?”
“Since he started coughing so loudly in the quiet library, everyone jokingly called him the member for Barkshire.”
“The teacher had to pause the lesson because the member for Barkshire in the back row would not stop coughing during the exam.”
“My sister stayed home from the party because she felt like the member for Barkshire and did not want to annoy the other guests.”
“The poor man could not finish his speech without a hacking cough, earning him the unfortunate title of the member for Barkshire among his colleagues.”
The term originates as a pun on Berkshire, denoting a Member of Parliament for that particular district. It relies upon the phonetic similarity between the county and the sound of a dog to suggest a person who coughs or complains incessantly.
Last updated August 10, 2026