Just as modern French-speakers who travel to Quebec often find the dialect of French Canadians to be archaic and quaint, English-speakers who visit Washington, D.C., are frequently bemused by the language spoken there. Though the Potomac dialect shares the alphabet and grammar of English, it has a vocabulary all its own. A few examples of Potomac phrases, followed by their English equivalents:

I have great respect for the senior senator.

I am about to drill my elderly colleague a new one.

We have full confidence in his integrity.

We will cut him loose by nightfall.

I don’t pay attention to the polls.

My job-approval rating is 32 percent.

I had some gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.

I paid for sex.

When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it.

We know the answer, but we’re not going to tell you.



Frankly …

The following statement is false.



You are either with us or against us.

You are against us.

We identified weapons of mass destruction–related program activities.

We could not find any weapons of mass destruction.

I hope we can work together in a bipartisan way.

I need to pick off one senator from the other party to pass this bill.

The president has always said …

The president is announcing a new position.