Our President Is a Right Proper Grammarian.

Quote:  “This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence.”  President Bush on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Figure of Speech:  hyperbaton (hy-PER-ba-ton), the word-order shift.  From the Greek, meaning “to step over.”

Want to tell when a politician is uncomfortable with his own words?  Watch for departures from his usual syntax.  Instead of showing confidence in the attorney general, today’s quote betrays a lack of confidence.

A confident Bush would have said, “This is an honorable man.  I have confidence in him.”

Instead, he employs an awkward word order that grammarians use to avoid dangling a participle (“in whom I have confidence”).  And he adds a protests-too-much “honest.”  Sure, some speechwriter may have fed him those words.  But Bush is a famously stern editor.  He insists on simple, direct, not necessarily grammatical sentences.  Except when he doesn’t.

Polish that resume, Berto.

Snappy Answer:  “He’s the sort of crony whose incompetence up with which you too much put.”

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