Figures of Speech Served Fresh

Quote: "Actually, I think what we did was reform the student-loan program." President Bush.

Figure of Speech: amphidiorthosis (am phi die or THO sis), the hedging answer.

Bush was doing a Q&A at Kansas State when a student asked how cutting $12.7 billion from student loans is “supposed to help our futures?" Bush responded with an amphidiorthosis (Greek for "protecting oneself"), which hedges a charge by redefining it. That $12.7 billion isn't a cut, Bush said, because no one will be cut from the program. It's a reform.

That reform consists of letting interest on student loans rise well above market rates and using the surplus to reduce the deficit.

Snappy Answer: "With reforms like that, who needs corruption?"