[Ads-l] "this president"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thinking about "Not on my watch!" I recall that "this president" (meaning
"the president," with little or sometimes no implied contrast to any other)
also began to impinge on my consciousness in the '80s, though I can't
recall whether it was Bush or Reagan who was so designated. Bush, I think.

Anyway, it's another quirk of usage that emerged from nowhere to become
pretty much _de rigeur_.

JL

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

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