This article is about the occasional unconventional use of the English language by George W. Bush. For his political ideologies, see Political positions of George W. Bush. For his various foreign policy principles, see Bush Doctrine.
George W. Bush at a podium during an April 28, 2005 press conference.
Bushisms are unconventional words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, and semantic or linguistic errors that have occurred in and defined the public speaking of former President of the United StatesGeorge W. Bush and, much less notably, of his father, George H. W. Bush.123 The term has become part of popular folklore and is the basis of a number of websites and published books. It is often used to caricature the two presidents. Common characteristics include malapropisms, the creation of neologisms, spoonerisms, stunt words and grammatically incorrect subject-verb agreement.
Discussion
Bush's occasional misuse of the English language in formal and public speeches has spawned several books that document the statements. The first, Bushisms/President George Herbert Walker Bush in His Own Words, was released in 1992. A poem entitled "Make the Pie Higher", composed entirely of Bushisms, was compiled by cartoonist Richard Thompson.45
In 2008, the Plain English Campaign awarded George W. Bush a Lifetime Achievement Foot in Mouth Award for his "services to gobbledygook".67 Conversely, linguist Mark Liberman of Language Log has suggested that Bush is not unusually error-prone in his speech, saying: "You can make any public figure sound like a boob, if you record everything he says and set hundreds of hostile observers to combing the transcripts for disfluencies, malapropisms, word formation errors and examples of non-standard pronunciation or usage... Which of us could stand up to a similar level of linguistic scrutiny?"8 Nearly a decade after George W. Bush said "misunderestimated" in a speech, Philip Hensher called the term one of his "most memorable additions to the language, and an incidentally expressive one: it may be that we rather needed a word for 'to underestimate by mistake'."9
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."11 " Saginaw, Michigan; September 29, 2000
"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."12 " Poplar Bluff, Missouri; September 6, 2004
Spoonerisms
"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." "La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 18, 200013
"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow." "January 200013
Foreign affairs
"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." " Addressing then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the APEC Summit, Sept. 7, 200714
Economics
"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk"that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras"it got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments." " Speaking at a private fundraiser and surreptitiously recorded by a reporter with the footage subsequently leaked on various news outlets, Houston, Texas, July 18, 200815
"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." " Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 200815
Education
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"5 " Florence, South Carolina; January 11, 2000
"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." " On the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C.; Sept. 26, 200716
"Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling." "Washington, D.C.; Jan. 23, 200417
