Languageness
Wade - 01/21/03
And they say we don't have an intellectual President...
While I can't say I was a fan of many of Bill Clinton's personal choices, the man knew how give a speech. Perhaps that led to many of the problems Slick Willie found himself in? Anyway, as a self-admitted fan of language and how it's used, I frequently found myself seated in front of the television during his speeches, munching on popcorn and
wondering if he would take the definition of "is" or "sex" to task again.
When George W. Bush was named President (and I omit the word elected intentionally), I knew that there would be at least a four-year gap before eloquent speeches would be coming out of the Oval Office. And this is not to hogpile on the popular notion that Dubya is an idiot-- obviously he isn't, or he wouldn't have made it this far. However, a person can be intelligent without being a good speaker. Dan Quayle, for one. Al Gore, for another. I watch Bush speeches now with as much anticipation as Clinton's, although for the opposite reasons-- I can't wait for the next re-engineering of an expression like "fool me once, shame on you."
Yes, our fine President has actually contributed to the English language this past year. It's a great thing to be leader of the free world-- dictionaries encorporate your miscoined words into their annual updates. Courtesy of YourDictionary.com, the following are the top five Bushisms for 2002.
