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Do you remember last week when President Trump hit the pause button on "Liberation Day" tariffs? To explain why he hit the pause button, he said people were getting "yippy."

Whether you agree with Mr. Trump on his tariff rollout/pause approach, I wonder if he could have picked a better word to justify his pause. Let's think about it because, well, we like words.

So, what was he trying to capture? What people were getting yippy? Was he referring to other country leaders, US treasury officials, major bank boards, the Republican cohort, major tech company moguls, the overall stock market, MAGA influencers or the general population of the world? We're not sure. He didn't define "people" any more than "people."

Hmmm? Let's break down the word yippy to see if we can surmise why he chose it.

Yippy is a word that means complaining, but it conjures associations of a little dog that is perhaps on the other side of a fence, barking incessantly at me. (Ok, I have some appraiser PTSD dog issues.) Yippy is definitely a condescending term toward the one who is complaining. It seems to say the yipping person is unnecessarily complaining. But if the complaints were yippy -- unnecessary -- why pause the tariffs? Why be compelled to change your course by the yippy little dog on the other side of the fence that if it got through, could only grab your pants leg while you kicked and perhaps harmlessly sailed it back over the fence?

Close-up portrait of dog with overbite looking up to his viewer


Also, yippy sounds like a slang word a high school dropout might use, but not a statesman. The opportunity to select a more appropriate and precise word reminds me of Gennady's perspective on Limitless who took NZT a few times and says, "I'm dubious. I like that word. My vocabulary used to be so bad." 



Truly, yippy is not impressive. It smacks of a limited vocabulary. Even if the audience is primarily a less educated audience.

What substitute words would have worked better for Mr. Trump? What would capture both the spirit of relative nervousness plus slightly patronize the undefined "people" for being nervous? I would consider petulant or querulous, but neither sound adequately condescending for Mr. Trump of the people who were clamoring at his imposed tariff effects.

Personally, I like the word squeamish. 

If I had to prepare Mr. Trump for that press conference, which is fairly important, as he certainly risks losing the tough cred he needs on Liberation Day and every other day, I would want to confirm and look up the definition of squeamish to be sure it's the best word.

Squeamish: (of a person) easily made to feel sick, faint, or disgusted, especially by unpleasant images, such as the sight of blood.

The word does have a sickly connotation, and I think that works. I think you might use the word to describe your son who is complaining of feeling sick in the car after watching and hearing his sister throw up in a bag, in the car, while you were traveling on vacation. And while squeamish doesn't condescend the unnerved boy as much as yippy, it still implies that the cause for a pause is a negative reflection of the one who is feeling sickly.

Finally, squeamish does sound smarter than yippy. It's smarter, but it is still generally understood. It's not so smart it sounds like you're trying too hard.

I'll concede something. It's easy to Monday-morning-quarterback the President's word choice, and in the end, Mr. Trump's yippy didn't seem to be a big problem in the press.

In retrospect, the pause happened, the gallery got less yippy, the stock market soared, and we all felt a little less squeamish -- for now.

What? You're still feeling squeamish?

Oh, you're feeling worse than that?!

We'll, have you considered an emotional support dog?
Posted in:General
Posted by Troy Sifford on April 17th, 2025 5:09 AMLeave a Comment

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