…I’m not even exaggerating. President Elect Trump has, and is, changing how we communicate. In a few days, he will be inaugurated into the presidency as one of the most polarizing figures in our nation’s recent political history. Regardless of your feelings on the man, this is a historic day. It doesn’t matter if you’ll be watching the ceremony or participating in one of the many protests, Trump has made a mark on this country already, all the way down to our everyday English language.

I’m talking about Trump Speak. You’ve seen it online and in the media at large for the better part of year now. It goes something like this: “Full sentence stating what the event/group/concept/thing is. 1-2 word answer describing it.” Trump Speak follows a pretty consistent style that uses 1-2 word statement sentences such as: “Very sad.” “Sad.” “Wrong.” “Fake news.” “Great.” “Very unfair.” Of course, there are variations. Sometimes the 1-2 word statement comes mid sentence, as an aside or mini break in which Trump interrupts himself to make his opinion on the topic known, or sometimes the word is repeated multiple times throughout one full statement. Regardless, the pattern becomes pretty clear after listening or reading for a bit.

The easiest place to find examples of Trump Speak is his infamous Twitter account. You can scroll for yourself, or check out a few examples that I randomly pulled in the image below. Yes, this pattern is probably amplified by the character limit on Twitter, but this platform provides one of the clearest pictures of how Tump uses the English language:

But here’s the thing, Trump Speak is no longer unique to Trump. Somewhere along the line, we started mimicking this language pattern. For many, it started as mockery, a comedic parroting of this unbelievable presidential candidate. Recently, however, it has seeped into how we communicate on a daily basis, especially on social media. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about Trump, making fun of him, or not referencing him at all; Trump Speak has become a common speech pattern. Once you start paying attention, you will notice it all over the place. Very sad.