What’s wishy-washy? What’s wishy-washy? As in this sentence: Trump is very wishy-washy on the issue of women’s rights, so it’s hard to pin him down on any stance.

Reader question:

What’s wishy-washy? As in this sentence: Trump is very wishy-washy on the issue of women’s rights, so it’s hard to pin him down on any stance.

My comments:

Donald Trump, that is, President of the United States.

Trump is shifty on the issue of women’s rights. Now, he’s for women’s fight for some rights, now he’s against them on other issues.

Then he changes his mind again – on everything.

Trump is smart, street-smart, that is. He’s pragmatic and knows how to take advantage of situations. He readily changes his mind in order to take advantage of the moment. In other words, he’s not firm and principled.

He often claim, for example, that he’s been “great for women”, but he helped, among other things, overturn “Roe V. Wade”, stripping abortion rights for millions of women.

Also, he changes positions constantly so that opponents cannot pin him down – hold him firmly accountable for anything he says.

In other words, his position is wishy-washy, like, watery, wavering and prone to change instead of being firm and fixed.

Now, wishy-washy.

Wishy is a play on the word washy, which is rooted in wash, such as washing clothes in water.

According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, wishy-washy came into existence between 1600-1700. Wishy is put in front of washy purely for sound effect. Wishy-washy still means washy, meaning “watery, thin and diluted”.

Similar replicative word formations include, for example, namby-pamby (which, as a matter of fact, means the same as wishy-washy, more or less), dilly-dally (wander aimlessly, now going left, now going right), mumbo-jumbo (confusion). Look them up if you want to examine these words in detail.

Back to wishy-washy. One theory suggests that wishy-washy was popularized in pubs where unhappy drinkers moaned while nursing their bottle of diluted beer in hand. It was, sometimes still is, the practice of brewers and pub owners to add water to their beer in order to make it weaker (so that fewer people get drunk after knocking back a few pints).

But if they add too much water, of course, the beverage becomes very thin and weak. It becomes bland and tasteless.

It becomes wishy-washy, in other words.

Metaphorically, wishy-washy is often used to describe people and things that are weak, feeble, unsteady, unreliable, indecisive, irresolute.

Shifty, in other words, as is the case with Trump on Women’s rights.

All right, here are more examples of wishy-washy in the media:

1. When you're at the front of the room, it’s yours. Keep it by taking these wishy washy phrases out of your talks. Don’t ask the audience for permission to tell them a story – just tell the story!

When was the last time you heard another speaker (or even yourself) say: “I’d like to start off with a story…”

Just start off with the story.

Get right into it.

Get rid of the preface phrases and just get on with it. You don’t need them and neither does the audience.

Speakers say these things all the time:

“I’d like to share an example with you”

“I’d like to start off with a story”

“I’d like to ask you all a question”

…

Seriously. Filter yourself.

Just do the thing that you want to do.

What, do you think the audience is going to say no, that you can’t start with a story?

“I’d like to share an example with you…” becomes “Here is an example…”

“I’d like to start off with a story…” gets eliminated and you jump right into a powerful part of the story.

“I’d like to ask you all a question…” becomes “Question: blah blah blah…”

Not that hard, is it? And guess what? That’s you seizing the room. You’re not really going to ask for permission to tell a story are you? You’re the speaker!

Next Action:

Record yourself speaking. Listen to it. Change all instances of “I’d like to…” to something else more direct and meaningful and not wishy washy.

- How to avoid being wishy washy, SeizeTheRoom.com, October 3, 2011.

2. You don’t need to venture far from the Oval Office to find critics of President Donald Trump’s chaotic economic agenda. Many of the people put off by Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs are roaming the halls of the White House.

That’s the news from the Wall Street Journal, who spoke with insiders in Trump’s White House and found that the volatile stock market and tariff-induced uncertainty have rattled senior officials like Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The tension has mounted as Trump underlings handle concerned calls from donors and business leaders about planned tariffs on Canada, Mexico and other prominent U.S. trade partners.

Anonymous sources who spoke with the Journal said the executive branch’s National Economic Council has tried to nudge Trump off his current path to no avail. In spite of the concerning news coming from inside the White House, officials are claiming the admin is of one mind.

“Every member of the Trump administration is playing from the same playbook – President Trump’s playbook – to enact an America First agenda of tariffs, tax cuts, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told the Journal.

The stock market slumps stemming from uncertainty around Trump tariffs have disrupted the lock-step of MAGA diehards on Capitol Hill. Republican legislators have begun speaking out about Trump's economic agenda, worrying that the confusion around trade could cause pain without a point.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told the Journal that he was “very frustrated” by the wishy-washy approach to duties by Trump.

“We don’t know what this is gonna look like tomorrow,” he told the outlet.

The typically conservative Wall Street Journal has been a vocal critic of Trump’s planned tariffs. The editorial board of the paper called Trump’s idea “the dumbest trade war in history” in a fiery op-ed. Trump responded that the Journal was “always wrong” and promised the U.S. was “not going to be the ‘Stupid Country’ any longer.”

- “Don’t know what this is gonna look like tomorrow”: Trump advisers, allies spooked by tariff chaos, Salon.com, March 12, 2025.

3. Aaron Rodgers has yet to sign with a team two weeks ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, but the Steelers seem to be willing to wait things out as long as possible.

Pittsburgh seemed like the logical destination for the veteran quarterback, but the 41-year-old often isn’t the most logical person. The Steelers continued their draft process by meeting with prospects, but a Rodgers decision would be ideal before the draft.

That might be why some in the Steelers organization have had their patience wear thin.

“As of right now, everybody is being patient,” NFL insider James Palmer said on Bleacher Report on Friday. “My understanding is there’s some people in that building that are losing some of their patience. Some of them may be in that locker room as they sit and wait for Aaron Rodgers to make a decision.”

Team captain Cam Heyward went viral for his fiery comments toward Rodgers for being wishy-washy about his decision. It seems like others are in the same boat, and Palmer believes that the week of the 2025 NFL Draft could be a deadline of sorts for the Steelers.

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that Derek Carr could miss the start of the season due to a shoulder injury. The New Orleans Saints could be a viable destination for Rodgers, so it might be another obstacle for the Steelers’ pursuit.

- Aaron Rodgers Rumors: How Steelers Feel About Lingering Decision, SportsNetPittsburgh.com, April 12, 2025.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）