Bushism

{{Short description|Unconventional statements by George W. Bush}} {{About|George W. Bush's often unconventional use of English|his political ideologies|Political positions of George W. Bush|key foreign policy principles|Bush Doctrine}} {{Use American English|date=May 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} [[File:President George W. Bush address the nation on the economy 2008.jpg|thumb|upright|George W. Bush addressing the nation from the East Room, September 2008]]

'''Bushisms''' are unconventional statements, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, and semantic or linguistic errors made in the public speaking of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bines |first=Jonathan |url=https://archive.org/details/bushisms00bine |title=Bushisms: President George Herbert Walker Bush in His Own Words |date=May 1992 |publisher=Workman Pub Co |isbn=978-1-56305-318-4}}</ref><ref name = bbcmisunder>{{Cite news |date=January 7, 2009 |title=The 'misunderestimated' president? |work=BBC |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7809160.stm |access-date=January 23, 2009 |quote=The word "Bushism" has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses during eight years in office, which come to an end on 20 January.}}</ref> Common characteristics of Bushisms include malapropisms, spoonerisms, the creation of neologisms or stunt words, and errors in subject–verb agreement.

== Discussion == Bush's use of the English language in formal and public speeches has spawned several books that document the statements. A poem titled "Make the Pie Higher", composed entirely of Bushisms, was compiled by cartoonist Richard Thompson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Comics Reporter |url=http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/interviews/12135/ |website=comicsreporter.com}}</ref><ref name="snopes">{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/piehigher.asp |title=Make the Pie Higher! |access-date=October 12, 2006 |year=2002 |website=Snopes.com}}</ref> Various public figures and humorists, such as ''The Daily Show'' host Jon Stewart and ''Doonesbury'' cartoonist Garry Trudeau, have popularized Bushisms.<ref>{{cite comic | cartoonist=Trudeau, Garry | strip=[Doonesbury] | Date=April 16, 2006 | syndicate=Universal Press Syndicate}}</ref>

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?".<ref>Mark Liberman, [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000292.html "You say Nevada, I say Nevahda"]. January 3, 2004.</ref> In 2010, Philip Hensher called Bush's apparent coinage of the term "misunderestimated" 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'."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/sarah-palin/7901926/Sarah-Palins-struggle-with-English-language.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723031126/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/sarah-palin/7901926/Sarah-Palins-struggle-with-English-language.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2010 |title=Sarah Palin's struggle with English language |last=Hensher |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Hensher |date=July 21, 2010 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=July 28, 2010 |location=London}}</ref>

Stanford University lecturer and former Bush advisor Keith Hennessey has also argued that the number of Bush's verbal gaffes is not unusual given the significant amount of time that he has spoken in public, and that his successor Barack Obama's gaffes were not as scrutinized. In Hennessey's view, Bush "intentionally aimed his public image at average Americans rather than at Cambridge or Upper East Side elites".<ref>{{Cite web |title=George W. Bush Is Smarter than You {{!}} RealClearPolitics |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/25/george_w_bush_is_smarter_than_you_118125.html |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=www.realclearpolitics.com}}</ref>

British journalist Christopher Hitchens published an essay in ''The Nation'' in 2000 titled "Why Dubya Can't Read", writing:

{{Blockquote|I used to have the job of tutoring a dyslexic child, and I know something about the symptoms. So I kicked myself hard when I read the profile of Governor George W. Bush, by my friend and colleague Gail Sheehy, in this month's ''Vanity Fair''. All those jokes and cartoons and websites about his gaffes, bungles and malapropisms? We've been unknowingly teasing the afflicted. The poor guy is obviously dyslexic, and dyslexic to the point of near-illiteracy. [...]<br /> I know from my teaching experience that nature very often compensates the dyslexic with a higher IQ or some grant of intuitive intelligence. If this is true for Bush it hasn't yet become obvious.<ref> {{ Cite magazine | url = https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-dubya-cant-read/ | title = Why Dubya Can't Read | last = Hitchens | first = Christopher | date = 2000-09-24 | magazine = The Nation | access-date = 2022-12-05 | language = en | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211016120644/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-dubya-cant-read/ | archive-date = 2021-10-16 | quote = The poor guy is obviously dyslexic, and dyslexic to the point of near-illiteracy. }} </ref> }}

Bush's statements were also notorious for their ability to state the opposite of what he intended, including his remarks on the estate tax: "I'm not sure 80% of people get the death tax. I know this: 100% will get it if I'm the president." These incidents have been described as or likened to Freudian slips.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall Jamieson |first=Kathleen |title=The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories that Shape the Political World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |pages=62}}</ref>

In 2001, Bush poked fun at himself at the annual Radio & Television Correspondents Dinner (now the White House Correspondents Dinner), delivering a monologue reacting and responding to his Bushisms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdd8QRi_OvI|title=George W. Bush makes fun of his own grammar(Bushisms)|date=July 13, 2015|via=YouTube}}</ref>

In 2008, Bush was given a satirical lifetime achievement Foot in Mouth Award for "services to gobbledygook" in reference to his various gaffes.<ref name="past">{{cite web |title=Past winners |url=http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/awards/foot-in-mouth-award/foot-in-mouth-winners.html |url-status=dead |access-date=18 September 2012 |publisher=Plain English Campaign |archive-date=25 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325005840/http://plainenglish.co.uk/awards/foot-in-mouth-award/foot-in-mouth-winners.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-12-09/news/17911550_1_president-bush-watchdog-conferences |title=President Bush's abuse of English language gets Foot in Mouth award |last=Boyle |first=Christina |work=Daily News |publisher=Daily News, L.P. |location=New York |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=28 September 2012}}</ref>

The term ''Bushism'' has become part of popular folklore and is the basis of a number of websites and published books. It is often used to caricature Bush.{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

==Examples== ===General=== * "I think we agree, the past is over."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2000/05/bushisms-of-the-week.html|title=Bushisms of the Week|date=2000-05-11|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Subdued McCain Endorses Bush|last=Jackson, David and Wayne Slater.|date=May 10, 2000|work=The Dallas Morning News}}</ref> – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 10, 2000; to his former primary election rival John McCain * "We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent."{{snd}}during his third Presidential debate with Al Gore, October 17, 2000<ref>{{cite web | title = Transcript of the third Gore-Bush presidential debate | publisher = Commission on Presidential Debates | date = 2000-10-17 | url = http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-17-2000-debate-transcript | access-date = August 12, 2024}}</ref> * "They misunderestimated me."{{snd}}Bentonville, Arkansas, November 6, 2000.<ref name="Time_Misunderestimate">{{cite magazine |date=January 11, 2009 |title=Top Ten Bushisms: The Miseducation of America |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870945,00.html |access-date=March 2, 2009 |magazine=Time}}</ref> * "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."{{snd}}Saginaw, Michigan, September 29, 2000; while expressing opposition to removing dams to protect endangered fish species<ref name=Time_PeopleFish>{{cite magazine |access-date=August 12, 2024 |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870961,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118230812/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870961,00.html |url-status=live |archive-date=January 18, 2009 |title=Top 10 Bushisms: Fish Are Friends |magazine=Time |date=January 11, 2009}}</ref> * "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 18, 2000<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2009-01-11 |title=Top 10 Bushisms - TIME |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870962,00.html |access-date=2024-11-15 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> * "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you.' Fool me—you can't get fooled again."<ref name="WhitehouseArchives_FoolMe">{{cite journal |access-date=December 18, 2010 |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020917-7.html |title=Remarks by the President on Teaching American History and Civic Education |journal=White House Archives |date=September 17, 2002}}</ref>{{snd}}while participating in Pledge Across America in Nashville, Tennessee, September 17, 2002. * "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."<ref name=Time_OBGYNlove>{{cite magazine |access-date=March 2, 2009 |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870953,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119084836/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870953,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 19, 2009 |title=Top Ten Bushisms: The Love Doctor is In |magazine=Time |date=January 11, 2009}}</ref>{{snd}}Poplar Bluff, Missouri, September 6, 2004 * "I'm going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there's an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened." – while announcing he would write a book about "the 12 toughest decisions" he had to make.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bush Speech In Canada Met With Protests |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-speech-in-canada-met-with-protests/ |year=2009 |work=CBS News}}</ref> * "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."<ref name="Simran Khurana">see (item number "26.", of) {{cite web|last=Kelly|first=Martin|date=June 22, 2016|title=The 40 Dumbest Bush Quotes of All Time|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/dumbest-bush-quotes-of-all-time-2734076|url-status=live|access-date=May 23, 2017|publisher=Dotdash.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511143110/https://www.thoughtco.com/dumbest-bush-quotes-of-all-time-2734076 |archive-date=2017-05-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2005/05/bushism_of_the_day_2.html |first=Jacob|last=Weisberg |title=Bushism of the Day |magazine=Slate |date=May 25, 2005}}</ref> * "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." – Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008; in an interview with ''The Jerusalem Post''.<ref name = bbcmisunder/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stupidquotes/a/dumbquotes2008.htm |first=Daniel |last=Kurtzman |title=The 25 Dumbest Quotes of 2008 |publisher=About.com |access-date=December 11, 2014 |archive-date=April 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406223454/http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stupidquotes/a/dumbquotes2008.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> * "Tribal sovereignty means that: It's sovereign. It's- you're a... you're a... you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed... as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the Federal government and... Tribes is one between sovereign entities." – August 6, 2004, responding to a question by Mark Trahant of the ''Seattle Post Intelligencer'' during a White House press conference.<ref>[https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/user-clip-tribal-sovereignty-bush/4605480 User Clip: Tribal Sovereignty bush] - C-SPAN</ref>

=== Foreign affairs === * "I'm the commander, see. I don't need to explain—I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."<ref>{{cite book |title=Bush at War |url=https://archive.org/details/bushatwar00wood |url-access=registration |author=Bob Woodward |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=November 19, 2002 |isbn=978-0743204736 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bushatwar00wood/page/145 145–6]}}</ref> * "I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement of purpose: you [<nowiki/>Saddam Hussein] disarm, or we will." – Manchester, New Hampshire, October 5, 2002.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |title=The Complete Bushisms |magazine=Slate Magazine |date=2009-03-20 |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722093123/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |archive-date=July 22, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * "Yesterday, you made note of my—the lack of my talent when it came to dancing. But nevertheless, I want you to know I danced with joy. And no question Liberia has gone through very difficult times." – Washington, D.C., October 22, 2008; to President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |title=The Complete Bushisms |magazine=Slate Magazine |date=2009-03-20 |access-date=August 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722093123/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |archive-date=July 22, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * "This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." – Charleston, South Carolina, January 2000.<ref name="Make the Pie Higher!">{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/piehigher.asp |title=Make the Pie Higher! |website=Snopes.com |date=July 21, 2008}}</ref> According to the ''Financial Times'', the phrase "mental losses" seemed to be a malapropism of "missile launches".<ref name="Make the Pie Higher!" /> * "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." – Washington, D.C., August 5, 2004.<ref name="Simran Khurana"/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870951,00.html |title=Top 10 Bushisms |magazine=Time |access-date=December 11, 2014|date=2009-01-11 }}</ref> * "I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." – Washington, D.C., January 12, 2009.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |first=Jacob|last=Weisberg |title=The Complete Bushisms |journal=Slate |date=March 20, 2009 |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722093123/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms/2000/03/the_complete_bushisms.html |archive-date=July 22, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * "Well, I mean that a defeat in Iraq will embolden the enemy and will provide the enemy—more opportunity to train, plan, to attack us. That's what I mean. There—it's—you know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-president-bush-part-2/ |first=Caitlin|last=Johnson |title=Transcript: President Bush, Part 2 |work=CBS News |date=September 6, 2006}}</ref> * "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.hud.gov/remarks/martinez/speeches/presremarks.cfm |title=President George W. Bush Speaks to HUD Employees on National Homeownership Month |publisher=U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |date=June 18, 2002}}</ref>'' * "We must stop the terror. I call upon all nations, to do everything they can, to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you...now watch this drive." – to reporters while playing golf.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Alan Isik|first=Arda|date=November 17, 2015|title=Now watch this drive!|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/2015/11/17/now-watch-this-drive|access-date=November 13, 2020|website=Daily Sabah}}</ref> * "The decision of one man [<nowiki/>Vladimir Putin], to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of Ukraine. Iraq too. Anyway...[I'm] 75." – In an address to the George W. Bush Institute, May 18, 2022.<ref>{{Citation |title=George W. Bush compares Zelenskyy to Churchill, calls Iraq invasion unjustified in gaffe |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2022/05/18/george-w-bush-compares-zelenskyy-to-churchill-mistakenly-calls-iraq-invasion-unjustified/ |publication-date=May 18, 2022 |work=The Dallas Morning News|first=Michael|last=Williams|date=May 19, 2022 |access-date=May 21, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=George W Bush accidentally admits Iraq war was 'unjustified and brutal' in gaffe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/george-bush-iraq-ukraine-speech |access-date=20 May 2022 |work=The Guardian|first=Julian |last=Borger |date=19 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> * "When you think about it, in the first month of the new year there will be an election in the Palestinian territory and there will be an election in Iraq. Who could have possibly envisioned an erection— an election in Iraq?"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/president-george-w-bush-speaking-to-reporters-at-the-news-footage/1272013043 |title=President George W. Bush And Political Bloopers |author=NBC News Archives |website=Getty Images |date=10 Jan 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/hope-your-doughnuts-look-like-fannys-ten-broadcasting-bloopers-that-hit-the-headlines/29905034.html |title='Hope your doughnuts look like Fanny's' - Ten broadcasting bloopers that hit the headlines |publisher=Irish Independent |date=10 Jan 2014}}</ref>

===Economics=== * "You bet I cut the taxes at the top. That encourages entrepreneurship. What we Republicans should stand for is growth in the economy. We ought to make the pie higher." – Columbia, South Carolina, February 15, 2000.<ref name="Make the Pie Higher!" /> * In January 2000, just before the New Hampshire primary, Bush challenged the members of the Nashua Chamber of Commerce to imagine themselves as a single mother "working hard to put food on your family".<ref name="Make the Pie Higher!"/> * "You work three jobs?{{Nbsp}}... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." – Omaha, Nebraska, February 4, 2005<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/misunderestimate-tops-list-notable-bushisms-article-1.389921 |title='Misunderestimate' tops list of notable 'Bushisms' |newspaper=New York Daily News |date=January 8, 2009}}</ref>

===Education=== * "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?" – Florence, South Carolina, January 11, 2000.<ref name="snopes" /> * "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." − Townsend, Tennessee, February 21, 2001.<ref name="Simran Khurana"/><ref>{{cite web| title = W.'s Greatest Hits: The top 25 Bushisms of all time. | url = https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/01/the-top-25-bushisms-of-all-time.html | website = slate.com | date = 12 January 2009 | access-date = 3 August 2024 }}</ref> * "As yesterday's positive report card shows, {{notatypo|childre|ns}} do learn, when standards are high and results are measured." – New York City, September 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bush-grammar-idUSN2623880720070926 |title="{{notatypo|Childre|ns}} do learn," Bush tells school kids |work=Reuters |date=September 26, 2007 |access-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924123624/http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/09/26/us-bush-grammar-idUSN2623880720070926 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also== * Anguish Languish * Bertiespeak, English as spoken by Bertie Ahern * Chernomyrdinka, similar sayings by or attributed to Viktor Chernomyrdin * Colemanballs, similar sayings by sports broadcasters * Covfefe, an apparent typo by Donald Trump * Eggcorn * Great Moments in Presidential Speeches, a recurring sketch airing on ''Late Show with David Letterman'' during the Bush administration * List of nicknames used by George W. Bush * Putinisms, similar sayings by Vladimir Putin * Strategery, a mock-Bushism coined by comedian Will Ferrell * Yogiisms, similar sayings by baseball player Yogi Berra * Yanukisms, similar sayings and gaffes by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych * Lukashisms, similar statements by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko * Wałęsism, similar sayings by Polish President Lech Wałęsa

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book|title=Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President|last=Frank|first=Justin A.|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2004|isbn=978-0-06-073670-5|url=https://archive.org/details/bushoncouchinsid00fran}} * {{cite book|title=The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder|last=Miller|first=Mark Crispin|publisher=Norton|year=2001|isbn=978-0-393-04183-5|author-link=Mark Crispin Miller|url=https://archive.org/details/bushdyslexiconob00mill}} * {{cite book|title=George W. Bushisms: The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Our 43rd President|last=Weisberg|first=Jacob|isbn=978-0-7407-4456-3|author-link=Jacob Weisberg}} * {{cite book|title=Bushisms: President George Herbert Walker Bush in His Own Words|last1=Bines|first1=Jonathan|last2=Sullivan|first2=Andrew|last3=Weisberg|first3=Jacob|date=May 1992|publisher=Workman Pub|isbn=978-1-56305-318-4|url=https://archive.org/details/bushisms00bine}} {{Refend}}

==External links== {{wikiquote|George W. Bush}} * [http://www.dubyaspeak.com/ DubyaSpeak.com] * [http://www.slate.com/id/76886/ The Complete Bushisms] by Jacob Weisberg

Category:2000s neologisms Category:American political neologisms Category:Political terminology of the United States Category:Wordplay Category:Terms for quotations of notable persons Category:George W. Bush Category:Speeches by George W. Bush