Bushism

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Bushism (in German about "Bushism" ) is a slang expression from American English and satirically describes words or phrases that characterize the style of the public speeches of the former US President George W. Bush , especially when it comes to improvised speeches . The term was originally applied to speeches by Bush's father, George HW Bush , who was also known, albeit to a lesser extent, for his unusual language during his presidency, but is now used almost exclusively to refer to the son George W. Bush.

While it is not uncommon for people who appear and speak very often in public to make mistakes, the recurring use of certain unusual grammatical constructions in George W. Bush's speeches is evident :

  • The addition of agentive endings ( noun agentis ) , i.e. the endings -er or -or , to create nouns from verbs that do not usually appear in English , for example “suiciders”, “decider”, “game changer” or “truth” Plate".
  • The creation of compound words that do not exist in the form, e.g. B. "misunderestimated" (misunderstanding).
  • The creation of verbs from nouns that are already substantiated verbs, e.g. B. "a president's job is to presidate" ( president is derived from the verb to preside ).
  • Strange sentence constructions like: “We had a chance to visit with Teresa Nelson who's a parent, and a mom or a dad.” (For example: “We had the opportunity to visit with Teresa Nelson, who is a parent and a mother or a father. ")
  • Sentences with strong discrepancies between the intention to speak and the statement: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. ” (“ Our enemies are inventive and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about how they are to our country and our people can harm just as little as we can. ").
  • Misuse of idioms: “Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again ” (“ If you fool me once, ashamed - ashamed of yourself. Fool me, you cannot be fooled again ”). The saying goes correctly: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me ” (“ If you fool me once, be ashamed. If you fool me again, I should be ashamed. ”).

Bushism is also a name for quotations from speeches by George W. Bush that give the impression of incompetence. Many of these quotes contain false statements about geography or history, political processes and the world in general. It is difficult to distinguish which of these is due to ignorance and which are simply slip of the tongue. This is what Bush called the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar Anzar at the first meeting . The American author Mark Crisspin Miller , who is regarded as a sharp critic of the politician, has published a collection of bizarre statements by Bush as a book ( The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder [German for example: The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations of a national grievance ]). Furthermore, naive expressions are often noticed, which also give the appearance of incompetence.

The word "Bushism" first found wider circulation in the USA , not least because of various books and websites that contain collections of corresponding quotes. It is now also used by journalists from other countries and is particularly well known to critics of the ex-US president.

The word "Bushism" is used less often by US journalists to denote the Bush doctrine .

See also

literature

  • Jonathan Bines and the editors of the New Republic : Bushisms. President George Herbert Walker Bush in His Own Words. Workman, New York NY 1992, ISBN 1-56305-318-7 .
  • Mark Crispin Miller: The Bush Dyslexicon. Observations on a national disorder. WW Norton and Co., New York NY et al. 2001, ISBN 0-393-04183-2 .
  • Jacob Weisberg (Ed.): Totally wrong, Mr. President! True words from George W. Bush. Edited by Gerhard Henschel and Kathrin Passig . Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-499-61619-X .
  • Jacob Weisberg (Ed.): Again completely wrong, Mr. President! More true words from George W. Bush. Edited by Gerhard Henschel and Kathrin Passig . Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2003, ISBN 978-3-499-61619-8 .
  • George W. Bush: George W. Bushisms. The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Our 43rd President. Edited by Jacob Weisberg. Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City MO 2005, ISBN 0-7407-4456-9 .

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