[Ads-l] "bully pulpit" and interesting variation

[David Barnhart]

He proved this once again this week as he deployed his Twitter feed to
jawbone Republican colleagues into backing off a controversial ethics rule
change and to pressure automakers to keep jobs in America.  
The prospect of the president governing, negotiating and conducting foreign
policy by tweet has riled Trump's critics. ...
The American president often is referred to as having the "bully pulpit"-the
power and visibility of the office to advance an agenda. Trump will have
that, plus a growing "Twitter pulpit" speaking directly to his roughly 19
million followers.  Adam Shaw, "Twitter Pulpit: Trump already breaking mold
of the presidency," Fox News Politics (Google News), Jan. 5, 2016
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/05/twitter-pulpit-trump-already-brea
king-mold-presidency.html

A FRIENDLY donation of $55,000 was not enough to buy a heads-up from Malcolm
Turnbull. Nor was living down the road from him. The property developer Bob
Rose, who was one of MT Hammer's biggest donors, tried both. But like
everyone except Lucy and the dogs, he had to hear about yesterday's
retirement through Twitter: statesmanship in 140 characters or less. "I was
just another donor, Rose told the Herald's Erik Jensen. "Just another man
that thought he was the right man for the job." The decision appeared to be
completely unexpected.  It's surprised me, one Wentworth local said.  "I'm
sure lots of people will put their hands up. It's an interesting
development. And the boundary has moved west, which has not helped the
Liberal cause." But from his Twitter pulpit, Turnbull's decision mingled
with oration and importance. Jacqueline Maley and Leesha McKenny, "The
Diary," Sydney Morning Herald [Australia] (Nexis), April 7, 2010, p 24
Wednesday

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 8:20 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "bully pulpit"

---------------------- Information from the mail header
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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: "bully pulpit"
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MSNBC chyron on _Morning Joe_:

"Will Trump's Polling Sink If He Keeps Up Bully Pulpit?"

JL






On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 12:13 PM, <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Re: "bully pulpit"
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> "bully" still survives (sort of) in its original sense in the frozen 
> expression "Bully for you!" Otherwise, my intuition is that nobody who 
> was born after about 1899 says "bully" in the sense 'great' or 
> 'powerful'; those people are not linguistically influential. 
> Therefore, it is not surprising that most people interpret "bully 
> pulpit" as a noun-noun construction. Most people are not "confused," 
> they just speak 21st Century American English. Or so historical
linguistics teacheth.
> .................
> JLighter wrote [snipped]:
>
> > But others thought it ["bully pulpit"] meant that the Prez has power 
> > to
> bully just about
> > anyone into doing almost anything he says ...
> >
> > The confusion is apparently so frequent that Wackipedia has a note ...
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org