The great strength of the English Language ...

..... is its flexibilty. This is true of all the major dialects (Irish-English, Scottish-English, Welsh-English, Australian-English, New Zealand-English, American-English, Canadian-English, and Indian-English). It is also the great weakness of the English Language.

I am told by native speakers that a modern Hungarian, or Pole, or Finn, can read or hear poetry or prose in their respective languages written 500 years with 90% understanding or better. A modern English speaker can barely understand poetry or prose written 200 years ago.

English seems to have taken the advice of the 12th Century Theologin/Philosopher John of Syracuse to heart when he denounced the wisdom of past generations in favor of "the men of today, who require the wisdom of today" (rough translation). Fine.

For those who do NOT want to be cultural orphans, there are certain problems.

A case in point:

Lately, a quote from roughly a century back has been over-used. President Theodore Roosevelt used to suggest that the primary strength of the Presidency was the office itself, which he described as "The Bully Pulpit."

When the TV and radio pundits want to get clever, they have taken to suggesting President Obama should apply "less pulpit and more bully" in whatever matter they think he should have solved already.

So what's wrong with that? not a lot. It is their job to keep people angry. But when they do so by misquoting, it becomes deception.

When people of Theodore Rosevelt's era used "bully", it was praise, not description. Something or someone who was "bully" was exceptional. A "Bully show" was a splendid event. It had nothing to do with the thuggish behavior we now connect with the word. For modern times, "bully" is a noun, where it once was an adjective.

So when Mr. Beck or any of his ilk decides to be witty, the suggestion is that the President ignore the influence inherent in his office, and rely upon the thoroughly wonderful nature of himself.

But don't correct the person who quotes such silliness. You can't raise the intelligence of such people with an hydraulic lift. Let them look silly. It gives them a feeling of accomplishment.