the 'slophonus' effect

When I was little, my mother introduced me to the word "slophonus." A Google search turns up no such word and it is possible I am spelling it wrong, but have no way of knowing what is right. A Yiddish word, I suspect, perhaps because my mother's second husband was Jewish by background.

No matter. The word itself was plump with understandable meaning. A slophonus was a slob in thought, word and deed. A sloppy person with peacock feathers to prove it. You can almost hear the word resonating ... drizzling with meaning -- everyone knows at least one slophonus.

The U.S. president, Donald Trump, is a linguistic (at a minimum) slophonus.

What made me think of this was the crystal clarity of the sentences presented as part of former FBI Director James Comey's formal statement due to be given before a Senate committee tomorrow. The fired FBI chief has publicly revealed how Donald Trump put pressure on him to shut down an investigation into a senior adviser’s links to Russia. Coney's sentences are short and direct, as if he were tutoring third-graders. What a delight after all the thrashing and dashing of Trump's verbal explosions. I could feel myself relaxing with a sigh.

Chairman Burr, Ranking Member Warner, Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I was asked to testify today to describe for you my interactions with President-Elect and President Trump on subjects that I understand are of interest to you. I have not included every detail from my conversations with the President, but, to the best of my recollection, I have tried to include information that may be relevant to the Committee.

 Mr. Comey's language is courteous to a fault ... he is speaking the language of the country he belongs to .... and perhaps he is afraid the media might have trouble understanding given Mr. Trump's incoherent and fabulous broadcastings.

One small candle in a dimly-lit nation.