Since 1790, presidents have used tens of thousands of different words in State of the Union addresses. Biden, in his first such speech, added to the list. According to a Washington Post analysis, there were 20 words Biden spoke tonight that had never been used before in an official State of the Union address.
The newly spoken words thread through current events and rising issues of the day. Some related to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine — Kyiv, ruble and Ukrainians — and others to health care — covid, immunocompromised, insulin and variant. He was also the first president to use the acronym LGBTQ in the speech.
The 20 words: chokeholds, covid, dizziness, fearlessness, fingertip, guardrails, immunocompromised, incinerated, insulin, intel, Kyiv, Legos, LGBTQ, ruble, rust, supercharge, trauma, Ukrainians, variant and weatherize.
