Michael Hirsh, “Gingrich Goes Grandiose… What That Tells Us About Him” (National Journal, Jan. 26, 2012)
There is something quintessentially Newtish about Gingrich’s gleeful embrace of the word “grandiose” on the campaign trail in Florida today. … But in running with the word, Gingrich is also willfully ignoring its pejorative sense –which has gradually come to be the more accepted connotation, says Ben Zimmer, a linguist who formerly authored the “On Language” column at the New York Times and chairs the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society.
Read the rest here.