Bush's language talent can not be misunderstated
January 13th 2009 21:14
George W Bush, who in 2000 started his forceful march to the US presidency by asking, "Is our children learning", leaves the public stage shortly, which is sad because he will now have fewer opportunities to mangle the language.
Debate may rage forever over relative merit of the gaffs which have come to be known collectively as Bushisms, but The Global Language Monitor, an organisation which tracks language trends, has just published its Top 15 list of Bushisms, and coming out on top is "misunderestimate".
It is hard to argue with this choice. Misunderestimate has cuteness value, like irregardless. You just want to rush up to Dubbya and hug him and wish him well in his future communication efforts.
If you must argue with this first choice, it may pay to do so quickly. Let us not forget the lesson of another presidential gaff. They laughed when Thomas Jefferson got his tongue in a knot and let fly with the non-existent word "belittle".
Today it is part of the language. It is a particularly useful word when describing George W Bush's language skills.
For more on Bushisms, see here.
Debate may rage forever over relative merit of the gaffs which have come to be known collectively as Bushisms, but The Global Language Monitor, an organisation which tracks language trends, has just published its Top 15 list of Bushisms, and coming out on top is "misunderestimate".
It is hard to argue with this choice. Misunderestimate has cuteness value, like irregardless. You just want to rush up to Dubbya and hug him and wish him well in his future communication efforts.
If you must argue with this first choice, it may pay to do so quickly. Let us not forget the lesson of another presidential gaff. They laughed when Thomas Jefferson got his tongue in a knot and let fly with the non-existent word "belittle".
Today it is part of the language. It is a particularly useful word when describing George W Bush's language skills.
For more on Bushisms, see here.
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