#269 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday February 8)
musingsbeyondthebunker.substack.com
Good morning, Today’s Tuesday and that means great contributions from others, in this case language and grammar: THE CHEAPENING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE From Russ Chittenden— “The thing that struck me most about Trump and his followers was the simplifying of our language. “They treated me badly, very bad.” No further explanation about how they treated you badly. And, of course, deliberate vagary about who “they” were. And superlatives. “They tell me it’s the best ever, the best anyone’s ever done, no one’s ever seen anything like it.” More precisely, superlatives in regard to the mundane. Like describing passing a perfunctory cognitive ability test in glowing terms – “They couldn’t believe it, it was the best they’d ever seen.” As if not being hauled off to jail by the CHP for drunk driving because you pass a field sobriety test is some prize-winning accomplishment. “I closed my eyes and touched my nose, they couldn’t believe it, those officers had never seen anything like that before.”
#269 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday February 8)
#269 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday…
#269 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday February 8)
Good morning, Today’s Tuesday and that means great contributions from others, in this case language and grammar: THE CHEAPENING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE From Russ Chittenden— “The thing that struck me most about Trump and his followers was the simplifying of our language. “They treated me badly, very bad.” No further explanation about how they treated you badly. And, of course, deliberate vagary about who “they” were. And superlatives. “They tell me it’s the best ever, the best anyone’s ever done, no one’s ever seen anything like it.” More precisely, superlatives in regard to the mundane. Like describing passing a perfunctory cognitive ability test in glowing terms – “They couldn’t believe it, it was the best they’d ever seen.” As if not being hauled off to jail by the CHP for drunk driving because you pass a field sobriety test is some prize-winning accomplishment. “I closed my eyes and touched my nose, they couldn’t believe it, those officers had never seen anything like that before.”