Earth Matters: Obamaisms

It probably started with the Tower of Babel and a bonehead named Nimrod. After the Great Flood effectively reset the clock on technological enterprise, Nimrod and his crew decided it was time to put down roots. They directed a then-united humanity to build the city of Babylon.

At first, Babylon didn't have much of a public works department, and construction was higgledy-piggledy. But Nimrod gathered his engineers, and together they conceived the idea of building a ziggurat, a great tower so tall it would have its top in the heavens. Humanity has always conceived big.

The project might be no big deal today when God is busy elsewhere in the cosmos. But in Biblical times God was trying to organize religion here on Earth and He took exception to Nimrod's hubristic effort to touch the sky. Seeing what the Nimrod crowd was doing, God judged humankind too big for its britches. If we could build a tower tall enough to touch Heaven, what would we think of next?

"Let us go down," said God, "and there confound their language." Soon, unable to understand engineers (ya think?) or each other, workers quit building and scattered across the planet. God figured all was good and went off to create the Andromeda Galaxy and Crab Nebula, apparently still works in progress.

God confounded our tongues so thoroughly that we invented a science to figure it out. "Etymology" studies the origin and development of linguistic form; from its basic elements and earliest use, through changes in form to its current and common usage. Etymology studies the evolution of language.

While biological evolution is an imponderably slow process, linguistic evolution is a human construct and happens faster. Following our diaspora from Babylon, varying languages informed us and became as much who we are as epicanthic folds, curly hair or variously colored skin. At some level, each generation contributes its own iteration to the process.

Take the word "dude," for example. When I was a kid my father took us to a dude ranch in Wyoming. Dudes were basically everything cowboys weren't. We were tourists, clients and city-slickers. We demonstrated no horse sense and practically no common sense. We were mostly a nuisance, but ultimately we provided the beans and coffee. A generation later, "dude" is just another word for person, male or female, common-sensical or not. The word has changed; language evolves.

Given the informative nature of language, it is no surprise that leaders and politicians influence language. They are, after all, in charge of coming up with the tag lines, catch phrases and sound bites that inspire, instruct and threaten. Their words contribute to our language. Dwight Eisenhower coined "military-industrial complex." Sen. Joseph McCarthy got a whole argot named after his intolerant and unfounded anti-communist pursuits. "McCarthyism" has evolved to describe demagogic, reckless and unsubstantiated accusation, especially toward a political opponent.

Nixon's Vice-President Spiro Agnew was particularly adroit at evolving the English language. Agnew—his speechwriters—coined "nattering nabobs of negativity," and "radiclibs." Radiclibs were radical liberals guilty of "pusillanimous pussyfooting on the critical issue of law and order." Law and order under the Nixon Administration: what a concept.

Because of his inability to put words together or craft a complete and meaningful sentence, George W. Bush has contributed to the English language in unforgettable ways. "You teach a child to read," observed Bush, "and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." He asked, "Is our children learning?" and later said, "The illiteracy level of our children are appalling." Bush defended his own mastery of the language: "...I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." Bush was so cool.

Saint Obama is a different breed of cat, well-spoken and articulate. Detractors grew accustomed to continuous verbal bumbling during the former administration, and roast Obama for invariably using a teleprompter. But hey, if you're going to write a dynamite speech, you might as well get it right when you say it.

History and usage define and create evolution of language, so Obama's policies won't translate into the vernacular for some time. Whether he succeeds or fails at economic policy, the president will be known for Obamanomics. If he is successful at facilitating Middle East peace, we will have the Pax Obama. EnvirObama will address the grievous harm to our environment visited by the former administration. And if he somehow fixes health care and other entitlements, we will have RxObama. But I wonder, did Barack Obama ever call anyone dude?