George Dubya Bush Comment of the Day

[Jerkass]

"People say, 'How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."

Ok, that was actually Sunday's Comment of the Day; today's was:

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."

I have a calendar, you see.

[disclaimer: Jerkass refuses to be political in any way, and his admiration of George Bush's mastery of the English language should in no way be interpreted as criticism of or support for Mr. Bush as a politician.]

[bakunin_the_cat]

Absolutely right, George! I mean some people might mention a minor difference of opinion called World War II, and then go on wittering about Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Medway, Hiroshima, etc. but what do they know? Apart from that miniscule glitch it's been a century and a half of peace and harmony between these two great nations.

[gil]

There was a whole page of alleged Bushisms on the web, but I gather many of them turned out to be Dan Quayleisms.

One of my favourites was : "We are on an unstoppable path towards better education and healthcare. But this could change."

But Richard Nixon's comment is my all-time favourite insult. It went something like: "I'm sorry to have to tell you that Dan Quayle had a fire in his library last night. And both of his books were burnt. Including the one he was still colouring in."

[John Self]

I had a Dan Quayle moment recently where I typed the word potatos and then stared at it for about half an hour, entirely unable to work out if there should be an 'e' or not.

One Bushism which has always puzzled me - perhaps in a pedantic way, which is not at all like me I know - is the one where he says "More and more of our imports are coming from overseas." We are supposed to find this hilarious: where else would they come from, you crazy nepotistic monkey-faced dolt! But presumably the US gets imports from Canada, Mexico, and South American countries etc., which are not overseas...

[bakunin_the_cat]

Personally I'd say that overseas despite its obvious linguistic ancestry now means the same as abroad, so Canada and Mexico would also be overseas from the US though you don't have to travel over seas to get there. In Britain, where the expression presumably started, you have to travel over sea to get anywhere so they are synonyms either way.

Other languages that I know, except French which has outre-mer, don't bother with the distinction and call it something like outland.

[Jerkass]

Today's comment:

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."

[rick green]

It was the drugs, man! It was the friggin drugs!

[skanky]

Personally I'd say that overseas despite its obvious linguistic ancestry now means the same as abroad, so Canada and Mexico would also be overseas from the US though you don't have to travel over seas to get there. In Britain, where the expression presumably started, you have to travel over sea to get anywhere so they are synonyms either way.

Other languages that I know, except French which has outre-mer, don't bother with the distinction and call it something like outland.

You *had* to. Now you can go underseas.

[bakunin_the_cat]

underseas sounds more interesting. A new Atlantis, women with big feet and all that.