Paul Sassone

I’ve been thinking about how we communicate — or don’t communicate —with each other.

What set me thinking was listening to President Donald Trump speak. To be blunt, Trump talks like a telemarketer.
It’s like he is trying to sell us the Pocket Fisherman or a Chiapet.

He speaks like a teenager in superlatives only. Everything is amazing or awesome. And if something is even better than awesome it is very awesome — occasionally very, very awesome.

But, saying everything you do is awesome isn’t so awesome.

Particularly from a president of the United States you want specifics.

In what way will Program A be an improvement over what we have now?

That’s what is behind the Affordable Health Care debate. Trump and the Republicans say the Affordable Care Act is no good. But they don’t have anything to replace it with — other than the assurance that it will be awesome, maybe even very awesome.

It seems to me that in this case language is being used to hide meaning, not provide meaning.

Language is a tricky thing. It is constantly changing, constantly evolving often without us being aware of it.

We don’t even pronounce many words the way we used to just a few years ago.

Next time you are watching the news pay attention to the way the news reader pronounces words such a “tour” and “sale.”

“Tour” now is pronounced “tore” and “sale” is pronounced “sell.”

Why?

Who knows?

That’s just the way American English is evolving.

In some ways language is fragile. But it is how we communicate.

For a president of the United States to speak only in indefinable generalities is an abuse of that language and a real threat to meaningful political discourse.

I am worried.

I am very worried.

I am very, very worried.

–I am very, very worried about way Trump talks–