US Presidents Like to Make Up Words, Expressions

2024 · VOA Learning English

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Transcript

1. And now Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning

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2. English. The third Monday of February is known as Presidents’ Day in the United States.

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3. So, for today’s Words and Their Stories, we look at some of the famous and not-so-famous presidential words and their stories in history.

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4. From Teddy Roosevelt ’s lunatic fringe to Joe Biden ’s malarkey the words and phrases said by U.S.

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5. presidents are often as unique as the American experience. “We're really creating our own institutions through language,” said Paul Dickson.

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6. He is the writer of Words from the White House: Words and Phrases Coined or Popularized by America’s Presidents If you coin a word or phrase you create it.

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7. One of the words is authentication the act of proving or showing something to be true. Another word from Jefferson is Anglomania

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8. It means to have extreme affection for all things English. The ending -mania means to be crazy about something.

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9. Abraham Lincoln the country’s 16th president, is known for making powerful speeches during the Civil War.

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10. One of his best-known phrases, A house divided against itself cannot stand,” is drawn from the Bible.

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11. Historians note that Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president, was the first president to use media to connect with the public.

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12. And he added several memorable words and phrases to American English.

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13. The words include pack rat loose cannon lunatic fringe and bully pulpit among many others.

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14. A pack rat is someone who collects things that they do not need. A loose cannon describes a dangerous and uncontrollable person.

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15. Lunatic fringe describes people whose opinions are extreme and different from many others.

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16. And a bully pulpit is an important position, such as the presidency, that provides a chance to instruct, lead, or inspire others.

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17. A slogan is a short phrase used in advertising or political campaigns to get attention.

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18. America First came from Woodrow Wilson the 28th president, in 1915, and not Donald Trump the 45th.

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19. The 29th president, Warren Harding gets credit for coming up with the term Founding Fathers This describes the creators of the U.S.

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20. Constitution. Before Calvin Coolidge the 30th president, no political campaigner had ever called himself a law-and-order candidate.

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21. This means they support police efforts and enforcement of laws. The 33rd president, Harry Truman came up with the phrase do-nothing Congress

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22. He is also famous for the saying, If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Sometimes presidents changed names to better describe their purpose.

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23. Dickson says, “It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who changed the name of the ‘Report to Congress’ to the State of the Union

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24. Iffy is another way of saying something is uncertain or unknown. His critics felt that the American president should use proper English.

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25. In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower the 34th president, was praised for using the term military-industrial complex to warn against the powerful alliance

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26. of the military, government, and private corporations. But then he was criticized for using the word finalize in a speech.

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27. By adding -ize, he turned the word “final” into a verb.

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28. Major papers at the time wrote that it was not “proper English” and called the word “meaningless.”

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29. Dickson says necessity is the reason presidents continue to create new words. There was a solid majority from Richard Nixon the 37th president.

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30. And Barack Obama the 44th president, used shovel-ready to describe public work projects that were ready to start immediately.

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31. When Joe Biden, the 46th president, ran for the White House in 2019, his campaign slogan was no malarkey

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32. Malarkey is believed to be an expression often used by Irish Americans to describe insincere or meaningless talk.

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33. And that, my friends, is no malarkey. I hope you enjoyed this special presidential Words and Their Stories.

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34. Until next time I’m Anna Matteo.

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