Question: How does a semi-literate TV addict spell 'unprecedented'?

Before the tweet was deleted and the spelling was corrected.

First of all, the major dictionaries of the English language should overrule their earlier selections in order to make "unpresidented" the word of the year for 2016.

Second, it seems there are only four possible explanations for this tweet from Donald Trump.

1. He has never read books or articles that contain five-syllable words.
2. He does know how to spell 'unprecedented,' and this was a purely Freudian slip of a man worried about how the electoral college will render its final verdict on Monday, possibly 'unpresidenting' him.
3. Vicious left-wing Twitter employees are trying to make him look stupider than he is.
4. The drugs he takes to keep him up tweeting at 4:30 in the morning are not without side effects.

Somewhere in America, Dan Quayle is laughing.

You can express your opinion in this Twitter poll:

What is your explanation for @realDonaldTrump's spelling of #unpresidented
(details about choices available here: https://t.co/qILRf23yQd) :

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) December 17, 2016

Tru'mpery makes its second appearance as the TBL word of the day

I know I've posted a definition of the word of the year here once before, but this morning I ran across the word in the book I'm currently reading. I couldn't resist ripping a facsimile definition from Samuel Johnson's great 18th-century dictionary in honor of the man who will be speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland tonight.

TRU'MPERY. n. [tromperie, French, a cheat.]

1. Something fallaciously splendid ; something of less value than it seems.

   The trumpery in my house bring hither, For state to catch these thieves. Shaksp. Tempest.

2. Falsehood ; empty talk.

   Breaking into parts the story of the creation, and delivering it over in a mystical sense, wrapping it up mixed with other their own trumpery, they have fought to obscure the truth thereof.  Raleigh's History of the World.

3. Something of no value ; trifles.

   Embrios and idiots, eremits and friars, White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery. Milton.

   Another cavity of the head was stuffed with billetdoux, pricked dances, and other trumpery of the same nature. Addison.

Excuse the fact that I'm repeating myself on this blog, but I love the way that all three definitions fit different facets of Donald J. Trump on this big, this YUGE, night of his.

Expectations for Trump are so low tonight that if he doesn't piss his pants and imitate disabled people, experts will call him Churchillian.

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) July 21, 2016

de•us ex ma•chi•na -- The TBL Word of the Day.

Mitt Romney recently tried to play this deus ex machina role for the Republican Party's current trumpsterfuck of a primary season, but the GOP is going to need something a little more Zeus than machine to solve their Donald problem.

A hat tip to Episode 18 of the Folger Library's Shakespeare Unlimited podcast -- "Rarely Performed Shakespeare" -- which I was listening to at lunch time, and which discussed the deus ex machina of Jupiter descending on a eagle while throwing lightning bolts in Act 5 of Cymbeline.

Maybe Mitt should have channeled his inner Shakespearean Jupiter before dashing back to his beach house with the car elevators:

No more, you petty spirits of region low,
Offend our hearing; hush! How dare you ghosts
Accuse the thunderer, whose bolt, you know,
Sky-planted batters all rebelling coasts?

[The dictionary entry photographed above is from The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, 1987.]

ESTA'BLISHMENT. The TBL Word of the Day

Establishment, a French word that is being used as an epithet by a billionaire from a rich family acting as an anti-establishment rabble rouser in the GOP primaries, seemed like a good word to examine today, using the first real dictionary of the English language.

Of course, though Samuel Johnson included six definitions of the word, he didn't include the meaning the word took on in the 1960s -- a meaning that is also being revived in this year's Democratic primaries.



[Today's dictionary entry comes from A dictionary of the English language : in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers : to which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar by Samuel Johnson, 1785, available online at The Internet Archive.]

trump•er•y - The TBL Word of the Day

Occasionally on Twitter I'll include definitions of words that are appropriate for the news of the day, such as this tweet from this morning related to the word trumpery:

If you were a novelist & named your joke presidential candidate "Trump", critics would skewer your heavy-handedness. pic.twitter.com/Hg7wb0HMXE

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) March 3, 2016

Sometimes the words are less related to the news and simply a product of my love of dictionaries, but I like the idea of adding a TrueBlueLiberal word of the day on this blog (if only to keep me dedicated to updating this page more regularly). We'll see how long it lasts.

Meanwhile, please try to use today's word in a sentence.


[The dictionary entry photographed above is from The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, 1987, page 2030.]