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November 07, 2008 18:27 IST
While outgoing US President George W Bush's [Images] famous quotes, better known as 'Bushisms', kept political humorists busy through his two terms, President-elect Barack Obama [Images] too has opened an account in the humour dictionary with his gaffes being compiled as 'Obamaisms'.
'Obomedy' jokes on Obama's life are being updated on a daily basis and derivatives of words suffixed to the President-elect's name are fast becoming a part of the vocabulary. 'Obamania', 'Obamadrama', 'Obamaffair', 'Obamafication', 'Obamafied', 'Obamafy', 'Obamagance', 'Obamaganda'' and scores of others have already found a place in the Urban Dictionary.
US-based magazine Slate has launched Barack: The Encyclopaedia Baracktannica to keep Obama fans and detractors updated on 'Obamaisms'. "It's hard to imagine that Barack Obama would be as big of a phenomenon if his name were, say, Tom Smith. As numerous fans, detractors, reporters, and bloggers have demonstrated, it's a name that lends itself to neologisms everything from 'Barackstar' to 'Obamania' to 'Omentum' We present the unabridged Encyclopaedia Baracktannica, a list of words that have been 'Obamafied' by Slate," reads a statement on Slate's website.
Apart from many Obama derivatives, there are syndromes devoted to the President-elect. 'Post-Baratic stress disorder' has been described as a sporadic recurrence of giddiness typically displayed by those who have recently returned from an Obama rally and a 'Baractogenarian' is an Obama supporter over the age of 20.
Though Obamaisms are increasingly gaining coinage, President Bush is still going strong with his famous quotes. Bush's comment on the liquidity in the markets "This thaw--took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw" about a fortnight ago or "the people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them" are still clocking hits.
Obama may never be able to better Bush's record, but his gaffes are being recorded for posterity. "Let me introduce to you the next President--the next Vice President of the United States of America, Joe Biden," he said, slipping up while introducing Joe Biden at their first joint campaign rally in August. On another occasion, he said: "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honours its unbroken line of fallen heroes and I see many of them in the audience here today our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."
Other memorable Obama quotes were, "I've now been in 57 states I think one left to go" and "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died an entire town destroyed" on a Kansas tornado that killed 12 people. But the gem doing the rounds is a video about Obama wherein he was asked if Republican Presidential nominee John McCain [Images] had done anything to suggest he's Muslim. Obama said, "Let's not play games. What I was suggesting you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. "And you're absolutely right that that has not come....my Christian faith," he added after being prompted.
Like the many books on Bush, Obamaisms are doing good business too. Apart from Barack: The Encyclopedia Baracktannica, Obamamania! The English Language, Barackafied
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