Weaponization of a candidate's words against him or her is something we're seeing a lot. The term Obamacare was used against Obama in a pejorative way, but Obama again reclaimed it. — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
When words come out of politician's mouth that are linguistically incorrect, people see it reflecting their intelligence. Sarah Palin was called out for "refudiate,"… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Sometimes people are primed to hear in a certain way. When a word like braggadocious suddenly appears, it's like, 'What, is he just making… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Donald Trump himself has an idiosyncratic speaking style that relies on simple words and phrases, which worked for him in the primaries but may… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Even if you close your eyes, you'll still hear Donald Trump sniffing. Linguists might call [these visuals] paralinguistics, every form of information including facial… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Donald Trump speaks extemporaneously, often through stream of consciousness, where it doesn't seem to follow a trajectory. — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Hillary Clinton has been portrayed as robotic, someone who is trying to approximate real human emotion. — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Even though a definite article is supposed to bring something into focus, Donald Trump uses it in a very general way. It's seen by… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
Weaponization of a candidate's words against him or her is something we're seeing a lot. The term Obamacare was used against Obama in a… — Ben Zimmer Copy Share Image
![“Even if you close your eyes, you'll still hear Donald Trump sniffing. Linguists might call [these visuals] paralinguistics, every form of information including facial gestures and facial features. Obviously these things get scrutinized in tremendous detail, so that a cough can be of outsized…” quote by Ben Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/055/ben-zimmer-47215_close-your-eyes_even-if-you-close-your-eyes-you-ll-still_2485705.jpg)
![“Even though a definite article is supposed to bring something into focus, Donald Trump uses it in a very general way. It's seen by many observers as a kind of racial distancing. Often using that article seems unnecessary. [But] it is serving some function, which is to represent a group…” quote by Ben Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7f6/ben-zimmer-47215_articles_even-though-a-definite-article-is-suppos_2932597.jpg)