# Is Bush mental? (Ed Grimley sense)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [January 10, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663 "2009-01-10T12:05:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/1 "2009-01-10T12:05:58Z")
I reallize this is about #8495 on my list of things I find disturbing about the way the current (for another week and a half!) President’s brain works, but from scanning **Green Bean** ’s thread about nicknames, and particularly [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10665945&postcount=25) post, I just remembered what I’ve never been able to articulate about one of Bush’s mannerisms that I find most disturbing: his practice of assigning nicknames to people that they don’t actually have, and continuing to use these nicknames. “Egotism” doesn’t quite cut it. I’m wondering if this is symptomatic of a type of mental illness.
It’s the sort that of thing that he only gets away with because he’s President–and I think he’s been doing this for a while, certainly longer than he’s been President. In anyone else, it might seem aggressively eccentric. It certainly violates the Kantian categorical imperative: if everyone assigned everyone else a weird, often insulting nickname (try calling me “Turdblossom” sometime–hope you have good reflexes) this would certainly be a colorful world, probably to the point of being utterly unmanageable.
It strikes me as unsocialized behavior at the very least. It says, to me, “I am extremely important. I give nicknames to people, they have to accept them because of who I am, no one gets to amend these nicknames, which often become public because I will use them in front of other people, I think they’re amusing even of you don’t” and on and on. But I’m wondering if this is also something that seriously mental (in the EG sense) people also do–it seems characteristic of narcissism, perhaps. If you were a shrink, and you had an unhinged patient who insisted on calling you “Doctor Assface,” instead of your actual name, would this be something you would characterize as part of a mental disturbance, or just run of the mill unpleasantness? I realize, too, that he doesn’t do this ( I think he doesn’t) with world leaders, so he has some control over this, and it’s probably more the verbal equivalent of his smirk (which is # 47 on my list of his off-putting qualities) than it is of genuine mental illness, but is this something, do you think, that crazy people also indulge in?
NEXT: Is Blago insane?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/2 "2009-01-10T15:24:50Z")
Meh. I don this, and so do many of my friends. If that makes us “mental”, so be it.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/3 "2009-01-10T15:36:04Z")
You give people unpleasant nicknames, all of your friends give many people different unpleasant nicknames, without caring a tiny bit whether (or actually enjoying it if) they find it uncomfortable or embarrassing to be addressed as you choose to call them?
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### Author:  [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/4 "2009-01-10T16:34:52Z")
Nothing particularly odd about nicknaming behavior. I used to work with a guy who was in the habit of creating nicknames for folks. My favorite was “Pebbles”, his nickname for a female coworker with a fondness for nude-look bras and an impressive pair of nipples. Thing was, she was so dense I don’t think she ever got the joke.
So, nothing odd about Bush in that respect. At most, it suggests he feels himself a bit superior to everyone else.
B-Rod, on the other hand, is probably a good candidate for a couple of personality disorders.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/5 "2009-01-10T16:35:53Z")
Uh, yeah. People do this to me all the time.
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### Author:  [@spike404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spike404)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/6 "2009-01-10T16:46:19Z")
What I find disturbing are armchair shrinks with myopia.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/7 "2009-01-10T16:54:30Z")
Bush is President of the United States. It’s not a sign of mental imbalance for him to think of himself as the most important person in the room.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/8 "2009-01-10T17:39:20Z")
**Little Nemo** , makin’ copies. The Nem-meister!
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/9 "2009-01-10T17:46:25Z")
Maybe it’s a southern thing. I grew up in the south and **EVERY.BODY.** did this. And they weren’t always flattering. I have a close friend who - to this day, as a 32-year old married father of 2 - will respond to “Dogshit”.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/10 "2009-01-10T18:23:20Z")
Must be a Southern thing. North of Maryland, it’ll get you hit in the mouth pretty regularly.
**Little Nemo** , read the OP again. I write that I think he’s been doing this for longer than he’s been President.
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### Author:  [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/11 "2009-01-10T21:32:25Z")
Bah! If he does that to you, just [Shoe Him Off](http://www.aksalser.com/game.htm).
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/12 "2009-01-10T21:51:01Z")
[List of nicknames used by George W. Bush - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_George_W._Bush) I don’t know, calling Rove" Turd Blossom" is hard to take.
I think it is childish.
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### Author:  [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/13 "2009-01-10T22:05:44Z")
Just chiming in to say that my mother grew up in the rural South, and she has, at different times, responded to both “Mater Worm” (as in “tomato”) and “Teto”. I’m not sure where exactly “Teto” came from; I guess it could be an abbreviation of her first and maiden name combined. She would still respond to “Teto”, but I don’t think anyone calls her that anymore. “Mater Worm” was a child thing for eating raw tomatoes whole (yuk!). She still will, too!
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/14 "2009-01-10T22:11:06Z")
I don’t know. A turd blossom is a flower that grows out of a bunch of shit. It’s pretty descriptive of what people like Rove do.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/15 "2009-01-10T22:36:09Z")
One of my friend’s dad was called “Stick”. At first glance, you would think that this was because he was really skinny, but it was actually because he had beat the hell out of another kid with a stick some 35 years earlier. The kid on the receiving end of the beating was still in their tight circle of friends. I don’t know how relative that is, but I always wanted to tell that story.
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### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/16 "2009-01-10T22:49:05Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> [List of nicknames used by George W. Bush - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_George_W._Bush) I don’t know, calling Rove" Turd Blossom" is hard to take.
> I think it is childish.
That’s _hilarious._ Somehow I didn’t know about most of those until now. When it can’t be improved with satire, you know the situation is beyond reproach.
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### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/17 "2009-01-10T23:15:15Z")
I think some of these nicknames are hilarious and inventive, and some of them are lame, like calling people Big \_\_\_\_\_, or their last name with “ie” at the end, or just translating their name to Spanish. Some of them give you insight into Bush’s mind, like how Barbara Boxer is “Ali” and Cheney is “Quasimodo” or “Darth Vader.” It’s very telling that he calls Bandar bin Sultan, the ambassador from Saudi Arabia, “Bandar Bush.” You now know everything you need to know about current US/Saudi relations.
Now, this also tells me he’s That Guy. We all know someone like this (I happen to work with one). He comes up with clever or pseudo-clever little nicknames for almost everyone. Some of them are cute/funny/cool, some of them are obnoxious, but the guy himself is pretty annoying and presumptuous. He doesn’t care if it bothers you, and would probably think it’s even funnier if you did.
But anyway, this is no more obnoxious presidential behavior than Lyndon Johnson forcing his aides to converse with him while he was on the toilet… in fact, definitely less so.
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/18 "2009-01-10T23:18:04Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#):
>
> Some of them give you insight into Bush’s mind, like how Barbara Boxer is “Ali”
How much insight can you get from a simple pun?
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### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/19 "2009-01-10T23:30:25Z")
I don’t know about “Mental”, but it’s certainly immature. Fun when you’re in the Frat house daze, but stupid when you’re supposed to have some measure of decency as the Head of State.
Can’t count the minutes fast enough that our Boy King leaves his latest playhouse.
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### Author:  [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bush-mental-ed-grimley-sense/480663/20 "2009-01-10T23:33:12Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> I don’t know. A turd blossom is a flower that grows out of a bunch of shit. It’s pretty descriptive of what people like Rove do.
Moreso if it were skunk cabbage.
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