Covfefe: 2017’s Word of the Year?

Born out of U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s “cryptic” Tweet at the end of May 2017, could covfefe safely qualify as 2017’s “word of the year”?

By: Ringo Bones

At the time, the folks at Merriam-Webster had been sitting out on this Trump neologism but just after midnight in Washington, DC back in May 31, 2017, U.S. President Donald J. Trump Tweeted: “Despite of the constant negative press covfefe.” That was it, no name, just that word “covfefe” left hanging there. It has left many of Trump’s 31 million Twitter followers baffled and slightly concerned. But what does covfefe mean – most of my internet savvy friends theorized that Trump may have been confusing a CAPTCHA check as an actual word – as in a French derived English word perhaps?

Though the covfefe Tweet has not just made Trump “famous” enough to cause a temporary internet meltdown, the president’s Tweet had managed to take the heat off U.S. comedian Kathy Griffin, who had earlier been under fire for posting a video in which she held a replica of Trump’s severed bloody head. Well, at least it is way better than Trump dissing Muslims and Mexicans on Twitter.

Alternative Facts: Latest Entry In The American English Lexicon?

Despite the first two weeks of the Trump Administration is “trumping” the Reagan Administration when it comes to media manipulation, is the phrase “Alternative Facts” now forever part of the American English language lexicon?

By: Ringo Bones

Days immediately following U.S. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway’s interview in Meet the Press with Chuck Todd pertaining to the lack of attendance during Donald J. Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States, sales of George Orwell’s magnum opus 1984 increased by almost 10,000-percent and this was on online book retailer Amazon alone. Was the dramatic sales increase a result of Kellyanne Conway’s use of the phrase “Alternative Facts”?   

“Alternative Facts” is a phrase used by U.S. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway during a Meet the Press interview on January 22, 2017 in which she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s false statement about the attendance at Donald J. Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. When pressed during the interview with Chuck Todd to explain why Sean Spicer uttered a provable falsehood, Conway stated that Spicer was giving “alternative facts” – which Chuck Todd responded: “look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehood”. And thus the phrase “Alternative Facts” was immortalized in the American English lexicon.