MADE UP: There have been multiple instances throughout history when the words already in the daily lexicon just aren’t enough to accommodate the thoughts of American presidents.
Who is going to argue when the Commander In Chief says something that no one else has said? No one argued with John Quincy Adams when he coined the phrase “gag rule,” or Teddy Roosevelt when he said “Lunatic fringe,” or even Barack Obama when he coined a storm as “snowmageddon.” Franklin D. Roosevelt created the term “iffy,” which might be used more often than Donald Trump’s “bigly.”
The Voice Of America News featured a story by Dora Mekouar on “Surprising Words and Phrases Invented by U.S. Presidents.”
Thomas Jefferson was said to have created more than 100 words, including authentication and anglomania — and belittle, pedicure, monotonously and ottoman.
Abraham Lincoln was also a word creator — relocate, relocation, cool (as in good).
Teddy Roosevelt had many slang words that entered the American lexicon — ‘pack rat,’ ‘mollycoddle,’ ‘frazzle,’ ‘malefactors of great wealth,’ ‘loose cannon,’ ‘lunatic fringe,’ ‘bully pulpit,’ ‘pussyfooter,’ and more.
“America First” came from Woodrow Wilson. Calvin Coolidge was the first to call himself a “law-and-order candidate.”
Warren G. Harding came up with the term “Founding Fathers” to refer to the nation’s creators, and also with the words normalcy and bloviate.
Dwight Eisenhower created the word “finalize” and took a huge amount of criticism for it.
Of course, there were words that George W. Bush created, with a laugh at himself. He called himself the “decider” and used the word “misunderestimate,” meaning seriously underestimating him. More Bushisms — Embetter: To make better. Resignate: To resonate.
And as President Biden said, “Let me start with two words — Made in America.”