Trump has used some bizarre words and phrases that left people scratching their heads — here are 8 of the worst by Mark Abadi on Nov 30, 2017, 1:57 PM Advertisement
President Donald Trump's distinctive style of rhetoric has been the subject of scrutiny since the moment he launched his presidential campaign. Trump's words provoke a range of emotions, from pride to anger and fear. But in many cases, the prevailing response is simply confusion. Here are some of the most head-scratching words and phrases Trump has used since 2015. SEE ALSO: Trump and his White House have made some embarrassing spelling mistakes — here are the worst ones 'Big-league' Perhaps the most distinctive of all of Trump's turns of phrase is "big-league." He makes frequent use of the phrase in his improvised speeches at rallies, and for more than a year, prompted hysteria on social media over whether he was actually saying "bigly." As linguist Ben Zimmer noted last year, "big league" is usually used as an adjective, so it was a bit strange to hear Trump use it as an adverb, like when he said he would "cut taxes big-league." Trump put the confusion to bed in 2016 when he confirmed he was indeed saying "big-league."
'Covfefe' Among all the words Trump has brought into the English lexicon, it's hard to find one more bizarre than "covfefe." It first appeared in a late-night tweet Trump posted in May that read simply, "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." Most observers assumed the word was a typo and that the tweet would be taken down, but it inexplicably stayed up until 6 a.m. the next day, giving online jokesters endless opportunities to speculate about its meaning. Seemingly clued into the joke, Trump tweeted the next morning, "Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy!" Press secretary Sean Spicer added to the confusion when a reporter asked him about the tweet, saying with a straight face, "I think the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant."
'The cyber' Trump raised some more eyebrows in 2016 when he made repeated references to "the cyber" at a presidential debate. Prompted by moderator Lester Holt to discuss cyberwarfare and foreign hacking, Trump gave an extended riff that included the following gems: "As far as the cyber, I agree to parts of what Secretary Clinton said." "So we had to get very, very tough on cyber and cyberwarfare." "The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough." "We have so many things that we have to do better, Lester. And certainly cyber is one of them." His perplexing use of the term cyber led The New York Daily News to call the English language "the true loser of the presidential debate."
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