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.^[1][2] 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 entitled "Make the Pie Higher", composed entirely of Bushisms, was compiled by cartoonist Richard Thompson.^[3][4] Various public figures and humorists, such as The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, have popularized Bushisms.^[5]

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?".^[6] 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'."^[7]

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".^[8]

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

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. [...]

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.^[9]

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."^[10]

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.[1]

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.

Examples

General

• "I think we agree, the past is over."^[11][12] – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 10, 2000; to his former primary election rival John McCain
• "They misunderestimated me."^[13] – Bentonville, Arkansas; November 6, 2000
• "I know that human beings and fish can coexist peacefully." – Saginaw, Michigan, September 29, 2000; while expressing opposition to removing dams to protect endangered fish species^[14]
• "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.'"^[15] – 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."^[16] – 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."^[17] – while announcing he would write a book about "the 12 toughest decisions" he had to make.
• "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."^[18][19]
• "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^[20][21]

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."^[22]
• "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 [Saddam Hussein] disarm, or we will." - Manchester, New Hampshire, October 5, 2002.^[23]
• "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;.^[24]
• "This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." – Charleston, South Carolina, January 2000.^[25] According to the Financial Times, the phrase "mental losses" seemed to be a malapropism of "missile launches".^[25]
• "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."^[18][26]
• "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^[27]
• "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."^[28]
• "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."^[29] (reminiscent of "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength" from Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell)'
• "See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."^[30]
• "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."^[31]
• "The decision of one man, to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of the Ukraine. Iraq too. Anyway — I'm 75." – In an address to the George W. Bush Institute; May 18, 2022.^[32][33]

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."^[25] A bigger pie is a metaphor for an economic belief Bush espoused that if the size of the economy grows, even if an individual's share of the economy is not necessarily larger, their share of the economy is still larger than what it was before.
• 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".^[25]
• "You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." – Omaha, Nebraska; Feb. 4, 2005^[34]

Education

• "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"^[4] – Florence, South Carolina; January 11, 2000
• "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."^[18]
• "As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." – New York City, September 2007^[35]