Daley, who never lost his blue-collar Chicago accent, was known for often mangling his syntax and other verbal gaffes. Daley made one of his most memorable verbal missteps in 1968, while defending what the news media reported as police misconduct during that year’s violent Democratic convention, stating, “Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all – the policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” Daley’s reputation for misspeaking was such that his press secretary Earl Bush would tell reporters, “Write what he means, not what he says.”
…human language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when what we long to do is make music that will move the stars to Pity.
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert