A Scientific Observation (Using Some Experts Gail Sheehy Didn't Know About) on the Speaking Problems That Seem to Run in the Bush Family

deadline poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the October 9, 2000 edition of The Nation.

September 24, 2000

He thinks that hostile's hostage.
He cannot say subliminal.
The way Bush treats the language
Is bordering on criminal.

His daddy had the problem:
He used the nounless predicate.
Those cowboy boots can do that
To people from Connecticut.

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About Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation's "deadline poet." He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963 and has written the syndicated weekly column "Uncivil Liberties" since 1986. He has authored many, many books, including Tepper's Not Going Out and Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist. more...
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