Ben Zimmer Quotes

• When words come out of politician's mouth that are linguistically incorrect, people see it reflecting their intelligence. Sarah Palin was called out for "refudiate," which seemed to combine refute and repudiate. One favourite Bushism was "misunderestimate."

  Ben Zimmer

  People, Mouths, Politician

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  10 Copy quote

• Hillary Clinton has been portrayed as robotic, someone who is trying to approximate real human emotion.

  Ben Zimmer

  Real, Trying, Emotion

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  10 Copy quote

• Even if you close your eyes, you'll still hear Donald Trump sniffing. Linguists might call [these visuals] paralinguistics, every form of information including facial gestures and facial features. Obviously these things get scrutinized in tremendous detail, so that a cough can be of outsized importance. [But] that's all part of the package.

  Ben Zimmer

  Eye, Details, Gestures

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  6 Copy quote

• Donald Trump himself has an idiosyncratic speaking style that relies on simple words and phrases, which worked for him in the primaries but may be coming up short for him now.

  Ben Zimmer

  Simple, Style, Phrases

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  4 Copy quote

• Even though a definite article is supposed to bring something into focus, Donald Trump uses it in a very general way. It's seen by many observers as a kind of racial distancing. Often using that article seems unnecessary. [But] it is serving some function, which is to represent a group collectively rather than as individuals.

  Ben Zimmer

  Focus, Groups, Use

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes people are primed to hear in a certain way. When a word like braggadocious suddenly appears, it's like, 'What, is he just making that up?'

  Ben Zimmer

  People, Way, Sometimes

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  4 Copy quote

• Donald Trump speaks extemporaneously, often through stream of consciousness, where it doesn't seem to follow a trajectory.

  Ben Zimmer

  Consciousness, Speak, Trump

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  5 Copy quote

• Weaponization of a candidate's words against him or her is something we're seeing a lot. The term Obamacare was used against Obama in a pejorative way, but Obama again reclaimed it.

  Ben Zimmer

  Obamacare, Way, Used

  Source: www.macleans.ca

  4 Copy quote

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