Folks all over left blogistan make fun of Donald Trump saying “bigly”.
But it is pretty clear to me that he is saying “big league”.
I may be super attuned to these things from my years as a vocal coach, but I hear it clearly. The hard G of “league” is swallowed a little bit, but to my ear (and in reality LOL) he is actually saying big league.
“Big league” as an adjective was once a more widely used expression. It means top of the line, top shelf, top of the heap, top of your game. In other words, the opposite of minor league. Being on top, being the best, and not being a loser, is clearly a big part of the way Trump views himself.
Kids may not be using the expression much now, but it was common as recently as the 60s, and I am sure it was popular in the 50s when Donnie was growing up and the Yankees were winning all those championships. It is still popular among a certain demographic of men who primarily express themselves through the language of sports.
If we really want to get under his skin, we should start calling various aspects of his campaign minor league”. Or even better, “Bush league” LOL!
There are a LOT of baseball terms that mean “not well executed” that we could start applying to him.
Monday night he looked like a double A player suddenly called up to the show. He may be able to turn around the occasional fastball but he won’t learn how to hit the major league curve ball in 41 days, especially since he thinks he knows more than all the coaches. In the Republicon debates, he did all right with those batting practice fastballs, but in the majors he is about to be exposed as a 5 o’clock hitter who swings for the fences but can barely manage a dribbler back to the plate.
I could go on like this all day. Believe me!
We could broaden it to include other sports terms. His debate performance was way below par. That hoser is just a grocery stick that will never get off the bench. He expected to storm out of the gate but he spit the bit early and definitely washed out in the stretch.
This has the double edged effect of annoying the hell out of Donald Trump at a very core level of his self-definition, and also undermining him in the minds of the demographic of men who also use that kind of sports language all the time.
If we get creative, we can come up with a whole bunch of these.
I will start doing it today and see if I can get it to catch on.
