Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Lexicography of Defeat

  • we will never accept anything less than complete victory. ~ George Bush (11/30/2005)
  • [The Iraqi election is] a resounding success. ~ George Bush (1/30/2005)
  • we will stay, we will fight, and we will win in Iraq. ~ George Bush (9/7/2006)
  • Mission Accomplished. ~ Presidential banner (5/2/2003)
  • we will defeat the enemy in Iraq. ~ George Bush (10/6/2005)
  • I believe we'll prevail. ~ George Bush (12/7/2006)
The sad truth is that President Bush is running out of synonyms. Prevail is pretty much the last word available in the English language. Conquer, subjugate, and dominion are still unused but they are a tad harsh. He can reach into the bag of metaphors next time with hit a grand slam, clean sweep, or take the bacon. Well, the last one may not play too well in Moslem countries.

Each word he has used has had to be discarded, tainted by its connection to the Iraq debacle. Even the rich English language is not a bottomless resource for ways to misstate the same failed concept. My suggestion is that Bush start using foreign languages. Jordskredssejr is a fine, Danish word meaning a great victory. It will be fun to hear him try to pronounce it.

1 comment:

PoliShifter said...

He's really moving into a realm that is beyond pathetic that few human beings in the public spotlight save for maybe K-Fed have achieved.

It's really sad that no one in his family, none of his friends, or none of collegues can't pull him aside and give him a serious talking to.

Ofcourse maybe they've tried and got fired, cut out of the will, or got forced to hole up at the local Hotel (like Laura does).

Either way it's pretty pathetic.

And shame on those individuals like Cheney and Rumsfeld who only encourage Bush in his errant behavior.