"I have, like, this incredible vocabulary."
Donald Trump, December 21, 2015
"Fershur. Totally."
Your Blogger, just now
Update (A continuing tradition of rhetorical eloquence):
"Her statement changed bigly."
Donald Trump, March 29, 2016
It is, rightly, said, that there can be too much of even a good thing. It must also be said that there are, of course, a few things of which there never can be too much. Off the top of my head that includes: beer, redheads and chocolate. Although not necessarily in that order. But definitely in combination.... Yes.... Definitely in combination.
I digress. But, yeah, in combination....
Right, where was I? Oh yeah, too much of a good thing.
In oratory, as in writing, the impact of a superlative is directly inverse to its frequency of use. The more often a word is used the more commonplace and insipid it becomes.
Which brings us back to Trump.
Traditionally, there have existed two kinds of political speakers; the man of few words, and the great orator. For a man of few words, whatever he says, due to the laws of supply and demand, seems to have more substance. A great orator, on the other hand, can speak often, and at great length, if, like Winston Churchill, he can draw his thoughts and phrases from a deep well. Trump is neither of these. He speaks often, and at great length, but his supply comes from, at best, a stagnant puddle. He is a man of few words, repeated endlessly.
Herewith; a Trump lexicon:
Great, nasty, terrific, horrible, amazing, disaster, powerful, important, awful, tremendous, disgusting, incredible, terrible, and, of course, yuge.
Throw a handful of random nouns and verbs in with the above, stir well, and you have a pretty typical Trump paragraph. It might even make an interesting drinking game. With beer... and redheads.... Well, once again, I digress.
We must still see how the primaries shake everything out. But, as I said once before: schadenfreude.
No comments:
Post a Comment