Posted on 09/04/2002 4:00:06 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a month's vacation at his Texas ranch, President Bush let loose at Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Wednesday with a blast of down-home rhetoric.
"For 11 long years Saddam Hussein has sidestepped, crawfished, wheedled out of any agreement that he had made," Bush told reporters on Wednesday, launching a new verb if not a military strike at Iraq.
Back in Washington after spending August in Texas, Bush was outlining plans to seek the support of Congress and the United Nations for action against Saddam.
"I'm going to call upon the world to recognize that he is stiffing the world," Bush said at a meeting on Iraq with congressional leaders.
Bush's rhetorical blast undoubtedly led to head-scratching in foreign capitals, where he is trying to make his case clear for ousting Saddam.
"Crawfished" refers to the freshwater crustacean -- also known as a crayfish, crawdad or mudbug -- and its knack for scurrying into a hole when discovered.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked about the term, rattled off a list of previous Iraqi commitments to disarm.
"This is what Saddam Hussein has tried his best to slither out of, as the president put it, 'to crawfish out of,"' Fleischer said.
"Wheedle" means to entice using flattery or guile.
"Stiffing" means shortchanging, or failing to pay what one owes. Waiters will complain of being stiffed by a diner who leaves a paltry tip.
The president, who has long cloaked his Connecticut Yankee roots with the plain-speaking style of his adoptive Texas, often turns to vivid, folksy language, sometimes of his own invention, when he gets feisty and wants to rally opposition.
In 2001 he said he wanted Islamic militant Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," in the style of an Old West wanted poster. He has denounced the Sept. 11 attackers as "evildoers," and labeled Iraq, Iran and North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."
I saw a British reporter trying to beat on this same issue on 9/11. Her name was Rosy Boycott (really) and she was harping about Dubya's use of the word "folks" when he said "hunt down the folks that did this...". A black American author was defending Dubya and said "he's from the South- Texas- and that's the way we speak down there. I use the word myself, so I don't think we need to be afraid of the word 'folks'". This Rosy Boycott lady came right back and said "Yes, but Mr Bush isn't really a Texan, he was born in the North."
I have yet to grasp why the lefties seem to think this is such a salient point...
When I was a kid we called them crawfish. In my mind there was a "L" in there: crawlfish. We had millions of them in the creeks around my area. One day a guy drained his private club swimming pool into one of the main creeks. Within a few hours there were dead crawfish and tadpoles all over the place. The a-----e is dead now.
...or lunker bait.
I've also heard them refered to 'dads for short.
Only need one reason.
You'll get a line, I'll get a pole, honey,
You'll get a line, I'll get a pole, babe,
You'll get a line, I'll get a pole,
Let's go down to that crawdad's hole,
Now, honey, baby, mine.
Ol' family favorite.
WHOOOO does this remind y'all of....hmmmmm???
OH, the many contextual uses!!
I thought I was the only person in the world that knew that. I sure didn't expect a freeper to understand it.
Is this a great board or what?
I dont know how many know this but crawfish swim for escape BACKWARDS just go's to prove that
"You can take the man out of the country but you cant take the country out of THE MAN".
GO GETTUM G.W.B.
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.