Posted on 03/21/2009 6:31:43 PM PDT by reaganaut1
In a speech to the National Governors Association last month, President Obama said about his first stimulus package, “I just want to make sure that we’re having an honest debate and presenting to the American people a fulsome accounting of what is going on in this program.”
He meant full, in the sense of “complete,” even “abundant” or “copious,” which is what that wordmeant in the Middle Ages. But by the 16th century, fulsome’s meaning had taken “full” overboard, to “satiating, cloying, excessive.” Shakespeare used it often, meaning “loathsome” and “rank with lust.” The O.E.D. defines its application to language and style as “offensive to good taste . . . from being ‘over-done.’ Now chiefly used in reference to gross or excessive flattery.”
In the 20th century, however, the original, positive meaning of “abundant” made a comeback that now causes semantic confusion. To some, fulsome praise means “full-fledged acknowledgment of worthiness”; to others, it means “overboard apple-polishing; nauseating flattery.” Many dictionaries give both definitions and don’t take sides, in “usage notes” merely tipping off the Language Slobs to watch out for denunciation from the Language Snobs.
...
Now to a huge mistake. (By that I mean a mistake in describing size, not the size of the mistake.) In Colorado Springs during last year’s campaign, the candidate Obama poured lavish (not fulsome) praise on “the enormity of the American accomplishment.” Just after his election victory, he told ecstatic supporters, “You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead,” and repeated it at his first press conference as president-elect, “I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Words, like actions, have meanings!
I (uh) will (er) (uh) begin to (uh) (er) to (uh)
make sense (uh) right after (uh) (er) I (uh) leave
office. (em) Until then (ah) you will just (ah)
have to (um) stay drunk. (oh) And, (ah) me too
What a fulsome idiot!
What did he mean by the other words he spoke?
Being fluent in Obonics, I can interpret this:
"I have no idea what's in this stimulus package. I didn't read it before I signed it. It was placed before me by my handlers and was told to sign it, so I signed it."
"Every word he speaks is a lie including 'and' and 'the'".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.