Disclaimer: If you are a supporter of Trump, you may not like this post. However, I did try to be nice.
There has been some discussion about Donald Trump’s language: about how he talks at the level of a fifth grader, etc. I have compiled a list of comments about Trump and words. I actually had no plans to do a blog post like this, but at 4:30 one morning, suffering from insomnia (or TAD – Trump anxiety disorder), these thoughts for a blog post came into my head. I picked up my phone and furiously began typing notes into it, so I wouldn’t forget these thoughts. I must confess that they made a bit more sense at 4:30 a.m. than when I looked at them at a more reasonable hour, but I am going to give it a go anyway! After all, we do talk about words and language here.
To Donald Trump:
- You are actually quoted as saying “I have the best words.” I don’t agree that you have the best words, but if you do, please share them, or give them back to the people you took them from.
- I notice that you must think your words are indeed the best, because you tend to say the same thing over and over again. There is redundancy, and then there is broken record. I am not talking about saying the same thing repeatedly over a matter of days or weeks. I am talking about saying the same thing three or four times, right in a row. We get it the first time.
- Please tell Melania that she has to use her own words, not those borrowed from the opposing party — especially without giving attribution.
- Last week you said you weren’t being “that sarcastic.” You are either being sarcastic or you aren’t.
- Words can hurt. Perhaps you should think before you speak. Or don’t speak.
- Please finish one sentence before starting the next. When you go off in a million directions, we just don’t know what to think. So we tend to create our own opinions about your words. And your mental state.
- People don’t like braggarts. However, since you are 70 years old and have been bragging for most of that time, we don’t expect anything to change.
- While we are talking about stealing other people’s words and bragging . . . who wrote that doctor’s letter saying you are the healthiest person ever to run for president — and why was the letter addressed “To Whom My Concern:”? Something fishy there.
- Huge begins with an H, not a Y!
- Sometimes hyperbole sounds — I don’t know — kind of weird? “I have one of the great temperaments.” Who says things like this????????
- Last time I checked my dictionary, bigly was not a word.
- Going back to number one: You very recently stated that sometimes, “You don’t use the right words.” Well, first of all, I believe the pronoun starting that statement should have been I rather than you. Second, if you have all the best words, you should be able to use the appropriate ones at the appropriate time. Third, “regretting” that sometimes you don’t use the right words from your storehouse of the best words is not an apology of any type. Apologies contain the word sorry or I apologize — followed by something specific. Regrets are self-serving.
- Not everything can be said in 140 characters or fewer.
Sincerely,
The Grammar Diva
Grammar Diva News:
- Join us at the Redwood Writers meeting September 11. We are having “speed dating roundtables.” I will be the editing/proofreading expert. Check it out.
- My next book should be out within the next month or two! It is called The Best Little Workbook Ever! and is a companion to my latest released book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition. You can use them separately or as a pair. The workbook contains explanations along with exercises and tests. The book contains more explanation and examples. No workbook cover to show you quite yet.
Arlene you are so clever and funny. Thanks for making my day! I was just on Amazon looking for your book and your blog little post about Trump was an added “funner” surprise. I love Rachel too. Trump scares me. Hillary is a brilliant woman. I don’t care that occasionally Obama makes a mistake with grammar. He has grace and humility. He has put up with so much garbage and still has class.
Looking forward to receiving your books. I am a published writer and I admit I still need help with grammar. I know I must drive my editor crazy at times! LOL
Thank you so much for your ery kind words! Hope you like the books. I am glad we are on the same page politically!
I love to read your blog, Arlene, and this time you’ve given me a Facebook post. By the way, I point my students toward your Grammar Diva offerings. You are a jewel of the Internet!
Thank you so much for the kind words! Rosemarie, you have made my day!
I love this post, including most of your readers’ comments.
Thank you!
Trump’s language isn’t “trumps”
and, by the way, nor is his mind!!
LOL!
I love this particular post, Arlene!
You already know my views so I won’t rehash them here.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Robin!!!!
Dear Arlene, such a pleasure to read your comment on Trump’s use (or rather ‘abuse’!) of the English language! I’m a Canadian (yay!) and also a former English teacher–form 1 to IB2 in a British system school in Africa–and many of your points have crossed my mind as I’ve listened to this man’s utterances (not really even words or sentences), but not in any organized fashion. Thank you for putting your nighttime inspiration into daytime order! As another reader commented, I’d really love someone to actually catalogue Trump’s words–it wouldn’t have to be a very long document/article!
From my experience with students, I wholly agree with all who surmise that Trump’s repetitiveness is symptomatic of a person who suffers from the actual antithesis of ‘having the best words’–like a student whose thoughts are not clear or ordered repeating ‘um’ or ‘like’, only Trump simply relies on repeating or echoing his own words until something else pops into his mind.. or just straight out of his mouth! The total absence of vocabulary (which needn’t be elitist), nuance and organization surely reflects what is in (or not!) the poor man’s brain.. which is understandably extremely worrying to the entire world at the moment.
Aude- Thank you so much for your kind comment! I have a fond place in my heart for Canada; my daughter married a Canadian. So, in case I have to escape . . . .
I made up this joke a few weeks ago to keep my sanity around Trump:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Trump, the Magnificent
You are the Jokester. We are laughing at you so that you will burst into air and blow away out of our country.
Well, anyway. I am enjoying laughing at my own joke!
Amen to that! Only 70+ more days til the nightmare is over!
It’s too bad that we can no longer “like” the comments on a post. Many of these are “like-worthy” and very entertaining. Great post, Arlene! (from the other side of the potential wall, in Canada)
Thanks, Tracy! I look at the comments from the back end, so I hate to say, I didn’t know you couldn’t like the comments. In the past could you? Anyhow, I love Canada and have Canadian family now that mu daughter married a Canadian! I may have to climb the potential wall over to Canada!!!
You’ve deleted one critical remark I made and not approved another. They were intelligent criticisms and a reminder that you posted it on LinkedIn, which is an international forum. Why?
I am not quite sure what your remark was. If it was the mean-spirited one that I should retire because I had nothing more to write about – and that I wasn’t funny – that is why. I had trouble with another commenter and decided since I was the moderator, I didn’t need to post mean-spirited comments. If that wasn’t your comment, I apologize. I get the comments by mail, and I always assume I get them all, but something might slip through the cracks. Another commenter was being nasty (not you), and I then decided to remove the mean-spirited remarks this time. It will be a while before I post a political column again.
Thanks for this! #1 made me laugh: “You are actually quoted as saying ‘I have the best words.’ I don’t agree that you have the best words, but if you do, please share them, or give them back to the people you took them from.”
As for #2, in my opinion Trump’s habit of repeating words doesn’t necessarily reflect on his intelligence, but it does show a lack of discernment and… genre awareness? Basically, he talks as if he’s making commercials, not speeches. There’s more to becoming president than getting people to buy a product (let’s hope, anyway).
Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked it!
Arlene–in my opinion , your post WAS totally about grammar, use of language, lack of diversity of words, incomplete sentences, proper pronunciation, following through on main idea, using language carefully (in this case, not hurtfully) overuse of hyperbole. In addition, I always told my 7th grade English students to support their ideas with DETAILS: You cannot have “sound and fury , signifying nothing.”
Thank you for the comment. I, too, taught 7th grade English, and yes, I agree with you.
I agree with you. I don’t think he is very bright either. And that is in addition to his extreme narcissism and perhaps dementia as well. He brags about graduating from Wharton, which gives the impression that he has an MBA from that prestigious university. However, he has a B.A. – or more likely a B.S. and apparently transferred there after two years somewhere else, and only got in there because he knew someone.
Arlene, I think I might be one of your biggest fans, so I could not resist reading your blog this morning even though I had promised myself yesterday that I would take a week-long break from politics. There is no question in my mind as to which candidate has the better grasp of our language, and I must admit to having made fun of this myself; however…
Keeping in mind that I am typically an optimist with a delightful sense of humor and that I experience at least one good belly laugh every day, what is the best word to describe this feeling that I have never felt in my 40+ years of voting in national elections, which is that making a choice between these two candidates feels like I have a choice between having my throat slit or having my dominant hand severed with no access to Dragon. Also, was that a run-on sentence?
I think that as a perfectly good sentence and not a run-on! I actually like Hillary a whole bunch — and I know that many people don’t, but I really think she has been unfairly raked over the coals for decades because she has been in public life for so long. She isn’t perfect; what politician is. But I am one of those people who doesn’t believe the negative things about her.
Speaking of Hillary, notice how she drops her final “g”s when she wants to sound Southern, folksy or empathetic.
I haven’t, but I will listen for it next time she speaks and wants to sound folksy!
Actually, now that you mention it, so does Mr. Obama!
I think I have noticed Obama do it!
The language we use often reveals more about our inner state than we had intended. For example, when we construct a sentence with a contorted structure, it may reveal a corresponding inner conflict on that topic. I have blogged about this here: http://www.dan-keller.com/rants.html and welcome your responses.
Arlene, your Trump language analysis is timely and entertaining… Thank you!
You could take it a step further with a little formal analysis. For example, the number of words in Trump’s active vocabulary is well below average for a college-educated adult, as is the complexity (or lack thereof) of the structure of his sentences. This would serve to objectively reveal the simplistic nature of his thinking, which ill-suits a would-be Commander in Chief. Just a thought… I don’t know how far you want to go with this.
Say, do you keep track of the number of responses to your postings? I bet this one is getting more than most.
Thanks for the response, Dan! Yes, this post does appear to be drawing more attention than most – most of it positive, but I did lose some subscribers! I really didn’t want to delve too far – it was a comedy piece that was serious! I would imagine he is not as bright as most college graduates (see the comment I made about his education). Add that to the fact that he is extremely narcissistic-and I think possibly suffering from dementia – and is one of those people to whom the truth is not significant. And – I look forward to reading your new rant! Thanks for the link!
“Bigly” is a word. Maybe time to update your dictionary.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/bigly
But even if an utterance doesn’t appear in a dictionary, it can still be labeled a word. Dictionaries don’t determine what’s a word but rather help us understand meanings.
Back to the thesis of your post: I wonder if it’s possible for someone who speaks chaotically–and even writes chaotically–to still have valuable ideas. By this I mean, can a person have productive thoughts even without expressing them in a clear and logical way.
For example, Mr. Trump would like there to be more factories in the U.S. He thinks this would create high paying jobs. I don’t know if he’s correct about this, but I understand this vision. I suppose I read or heard between the lines.
At the same time, some politicians are amazingly articulate and persuasive, yet their ideas of society are horrible, e.g., wanting to exterminate certain races or classes of people.
Or take the people. Most people believe the writing is first rate. Yet some of what the Bible calls for is frightening.
Irregardless and alright are in the dictionary, but that doesn’t mean they are words we should use. They don’t create a good impression, nor does bigly. I don’t want this to become too political, but Mr. Trump doesn’t have any credibility with me because he is one of those people to whom the truth is not important. Possibly people can have good ideas without expressing them well, but I don’t take anything from a racist, sexist, narcissist seriously. Since he makes all his own products overseas, he also has no credibility when he speaks about the economy. His character is so appalling that I don’t care what he says. I am no expert on the Bible, but I wouldn’t use it to talk about writing.
I share your opinion that all words are not equal in terms of creating impressions. But perhaps we need to ask: impression on whom? It’s possible that a word or phrase which I find offensive might actually appeal to someone else. In other words, while I might be repelled by “bigly” isn’t it possible that the audience Mr. Trump seeks to motivate would find it funny or appealing or even comfortable if they happen to use the word.
I’ve never met Mr. Trump, so I don’t know how he talks in private. My guess is that his public style is similar to his private style. But given that he’s a politician and wants votes, maybe his way of talking–including grammar and vocabulary–is effective in that it wins millions to his side.
I am NOT defending him. He lost any chance of my supporting him at the very beginning when he denigrated Mexicans and others from the south. I knew then that I could never be happy with him even if he supported policies that appeal to me–for example, encouraging local manufacturing.
I’m simply wondering aloud if Mr. Trump’s use of language can be seen as “successful” in that it appeals to a certain portion of the population. We know from history that politicians who speak in a highly refined fashion–e.g., Adlai Stevenson– are perceived by many Americans as elitist and as looking down on “ordinary people.”
Doesn’t language always has a social–class–component?
You are correct, Murray. Language certainly does have a social class component. Just take the Queen’s English for example. I don’t know if he is intelligent enough to be intentionally appealing to certain people with his language. Most of my post wasn’t really about his language. Melania plagiarizing, and Trump’s claim that he has the best words have nothing at all to do with language per se. As far as bigly goes, I cannot answer except to say that Rachel Maddow, whom I adore and I think she is one of the smartest people around, has used the word “funner.” I assue she says it to be funny. She certainly does not say it to appeal to her audience, which is pretty elite I would think. I don’t like it, but no big deal. I like her anyway! I was a 7th grade English teacher for more than a decade, and I heard a lot of funners, but I never, ever heard anyone say bigly. And I do admit to being a bit of a language elitist. And probably an elitist in general – although not in a financial sense!
Actually, Trump is NOT saying “BIGLEY”, he saying “big league” — but with a very Queens, NY, pronunciation
Really???
The cracks are beginning to appear in his wall. Soon it will come tumbling down and I fervently hope it will be sooner rather than later.
Cracks is right! I think they have appeared since the beginning. I would recommend the book Assholes: The Theory of Donald Trump, which I am now reading. It is a foregone conclusion as to what he is; the issue is, why would anyone support such a person for President? Perish the thought.
Arlene, you made my day! Thank you for this. Love #12. So true. Trump is a fake and the voters aren’t stupid enough to believe the words he literally “reads” off a teleprompter like a bad actor who believe’s he’s the star. There is just what I call Donald Duck, because all he does is quack, quack.
Thank you so much for the comment! You might be interested in the book I just recommended to Charles!
Obviously, Trump was the topic of your blog post because he is running for the most important job in the country and does not watch his “p’s and q’s.”
While I can’t provide any specific examples because I don’t write down what President Obama says, his comments are laced with grammatical errors–as are Donald Trump’s. Unfortunately, this seems to be true of most people. Yes, I would like Trump to think before he speaks; I would also like Obama to speak correctly since he is the #1 representative of the United States. It annoys me that personalities on radio, TV, and in newspapers don’t speak/write correctly. I frequently shout at them when I hear a “grammatico,” my made-up term for a grammatical error. I also sometimes mark in the paper when I see punctuation errors and have even contacted columnists and “on air” personalities (radio and TV). These people are paid to “communicate,” likely are college graduates, and must have had English classes during their education years.
As for Hillary, I am going to be listening for her “really good grammar.” In her case, I am more concerned about her morals and conscience.
I acknowledge that my comments are a little off subject, but they do speak to the “English Language” portion of your topic.
I put the disclaimer at the beginning of this piece because I figured that those who support Trump (or hate Hillary) would not find it as amusing as those of us who “dislike” Trump. It was not a serious piece on the grammar of political candidates. It was about Trump. Yes, I have heard Obama make grammatical mistakes, although he is a very good orator. Hillary is probably one of the better grammarians you are going to hear, and not just because I support her. I don’t want to get political about Hillary. Suffice it to say that I believe her morals are as good as most politicians’, and she has been the victim of a witch hunt for decades. However, you are entitled to think whatever you want and say so on this forum. I, too, am horrified by the grammar I hear on television and radio, and I have written posts about it before. This, however, was a comedic takeoff on Trump.
Her morals are as good as most politicians’. You missed the apostrophe.
I’ve been looking for a forum where nitpicking about grammar can defuse political debates.
Oops! You’re right. I’ll fix it!
“Disclaimer: If you are a supporter of Trump, you may not like this post. However, I did try to be nice. ”
To balance out, do one on Hillary also. She certainly has her unorthodox uses of language. (I’m not a Trump supporter.)
I have to tell you, Mike, that I haven’t noticed anything about Hillary’s speaking except that she has really good grammar. Since she is not a narcissist or mentally ill (in my opinion), there doesn’t seem to be anything unusual in her speech – except she talks like a politician. If you have any comments about Hillary’s use of language, I welcome your comments here.
That’s your opinion. I dislike* Trump’s speaking and writing but also dislike* pathological lying or forgetfulness which seems to be common to both candidates and their parties. I’m glad that I’m retired and don’t have to correct my French students’ grammar or explain to them why the America I knew and honored is not the one they are watching.
*dislike here means for me, am physically ill from listening to the speaker
I agree with you that the saddest thing is that this is apparently not the America I knew and honored either.
OMG, Arlene! That was absolutely hilarious!
I nominate you to start your new career as a humorist and staff writer for SNL or any talk show that does comedy.
You crack me up. That was fabulous!
Thank you for making me laugh today.
Pam
You are so kind! I wish I had discovered this “talent” a long time ago! Lorne Michaels: Got any job openings? Or should I open with “To Whom My Concern”
When he said he wasn’t being “that sarcastic,” everyone understood that he was making a careful distinction, a somewhat humorous distinction.
For example, I might now say you weren’t being that discerning. and everyone would understand that I was being sarcastic, although perhaps not that sarcastic.
It is true that Trump uses the language in a somewhat reckless and personal way. But so did Hemingway.
I wouldn’t put Trump and. Hemingway in the same sentence.
Perfect!
I would prefer not to put him in any sentence.