“Campaigning Like She’s in Napoleon’s March on Moscow”; “Hillary Clinton’s Emails are Almost Like a Vampire”--Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize Something

Here are some recent examples of articulate people using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative use of the language, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• David Brooks saying on NBC “Meet the Press” (Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015) about Hillary Clinton who had been interviewed on the show just minutes earlier: “She was having a little bit more fun today. Sometimes she is campaigning like she’s in Napoleon’s march on Moscow, just like a trudge through the winter. (This morning) she was a little more upbeat, a little more fun…”  

 

• Continuing with the subject of Hillary Clinton, here’s what California Gov. Jerry Brown said on “Meet the Press” about a month earlier (August 23) when asked what the former secretary of state should do about her pesky email issue: “This email thing, it has a kind of mystique to it. An email is just an utterance in digital form, but it has some kind of dark energy that gets everybody excited. So, it’s almost like a vampire—she’s going to have to find a stake and put it right through the heart of these emails in some way…”

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you looked at the latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since mid-September? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3^rd Edition”):

1. pugilist

2. frisson

3. putative
4. exaltation
5. resplendent
6. besmirch

 

 

No, You Do Not Get a Second Chance to Make a Good First Impression—Rick Perry Just Proved It!

This time around--his second quest for the Republican presidential nomination--Rick Perry was running a far better campaign than four years ago, say most political analysts. During every public appearance, he was well prepared and cogent. Yet, the former Texas governor was consistently registering close to 0% (yes, “zero percent”) in the polls, which is why he became the first of the sixteen or so major Republican White House aspirants to drop out.

 

The primary reason why Rick Perry failed to get any traction this time? Memories of his abysmal performance in 2011, especially his infamous “oops” moment during a debate, continued to linger. CNN’s Jeff Zeleny put it best: Appearing on “Washington Week in Review” a day after Perry’s withdrawal, Zeleny commented: “Perry was a much better candidate this time around, no question! He really studied the issues and things, but all of our impressions of Rick Perry are locked in from four years ago. Result: he was polling close to 0% and didn’t have money to pay even the light bill.”

 

© Copyright 2015 V.J. Singal