Tuesday, January 6, 2009

President of the Dangling Participle

Strunk and White could create an entire grammar lesson about the dangling participle, based entirely on Bushisms:

I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office. - June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.

I chanced upon Bushisms over the years while browsing Yahoo most popular news stories the other day (what can I say, I read news for entertainment). It's hard to believe that in just two short weeks we will no longer hear made up words like embetter or misunderestimate - or phrases like "more better" from him. January 20, 2009, may just be one of the best days in our nascent millennium - Bush will leave office for good and Obama will take his seat as president-elect. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Though I suppose, for entertainment's sake, I will miss hearing such delightful nuggets as:

Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?
- January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

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
. - Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.

Thanks for the entertainment, Mr. Bush, if nothing else.

1 comment:

  1. "I drove the dog to the vet while barking out the window."

    One of my favorites.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading Seattle Swift!