President Warren Gamaliel Harding thought he had a way with words, but the legendary journalist H.L. Mencken coined the term “Gamalielese” to refer to Harding’s tendency to butcher the English language. Here are some classic examples of Gamalielese:
*We must prosper America first.
*Re-revealment.
*I would like government to do all it can to mitigate. [Mitigate what?!]
*In mutuality of interest. . .
*Despite all the deprecation, I cannot bring myself to accept the notion that the inter-relation among our men and women has departed.
The most famous example of Gamalielese is the word “normalcy” which he gave in a speech in 1920. No one knows if Harding honestly believed that it was a real word or whether he was simply mispronouncing “normality.” Regardless, the word stuck and "Return to Normalcy" became the theme to this 1920 Presidential campaign.
You are invited to write your log in Gamalielese.