I like the First Lady, I do. I've always felt sorry for her because of, well, you know; and as time goes along it's encouraging to watch her grow into her role. The only thing her husband is growing into is a larger pants size. No doubt all FLOTUS's must find their way, but I cringe every time I hear the slogan of Melania's campaign.
Be Best. Isn't there a word missing? I'm trying to get used to her quaint accent, if I'm going to be honest; but am I the only one who thinks 'the or your' is missing? If she slipped with her translation during her announcement, as POTUS often does, then I'd think someone would at least have corrected the ad campaign. We'd all understand. The way it sounds now it's like a call to Egocentrics rather than be the best you can be. Or is that just how she sends the Donald to work?
But Be Best? I just tried, but I can't fit that into any sentence. I welcome examples.
The other night I decided that when I die, I want to be able to say to myself that I became the Best that I could have been; not that I wasn't good enough.
I agree with you. But a guy on the internet with an MA in Linguistics and a PhD in Education claims that it's OK to leave the 'the' out of 'Be Best.' He says that Slavic languages (as in Slovene) lack both definite (the) and indefinite articles (a/an). He argues that immigrants have helped shape American English and that perhaps Melania Trump is showing a contemporary example of that happening.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't buy it. Someone should have edited her slogan. But after the embarrassing speech she made at the UN, maybe someone ordered, "hands off" anything she says. (I'll never be convinced it wasn't plagiarized from Michelle Obama's speech.)
I don't buy it, either. Just because the Linguist says it's OK doesn't make it so...like stating Two-plus-Two-equals-Five. Doesn't make it so.
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