About This Site

Figaro rips the innards out of things people say and reveals the rhetorical tricks and pratfalls. For terms and definitions, click here.
(What are figures of speech?)
Ask Figaro a question!

This form does not yet contain any fields.

    « I Fought the Law and the Law Lost | Main | We See the Blowhard Biting the End of His Pen »
    Tuesday
    Jan242006

    Hold Still. I’m Reforming You.

    bushexecutioner.jpgQuote: "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?"

    PrintView Printer Friendly Version

    EmailEmail Article to Friend

    Reader Comments

    There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

    PostPost a New Comment

    Enter your information below to add a new comment.

    My response is on my own website »
    Author Email (optional):
    Author URL (optional):
    Post:
     
    All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.