'Be Best': does Melania Trump's oddly named initiative break the laws of grammar?

 

At the White House on Monday, Melania Trump unveiled a campaign to keep children happy and healthy in today’s hyperconnected, often unsettling world. The name of this lofty and laudable effort? “Be Best.”
That’s right: “Be Best!” Not “Be the Best”, or “Be Your Best”, or “Be the Best You Can Be”. Not “Be Better” or “Be Safe”, or even “Don’t Be a Jerk” (which is an actual campaign launched in New York to promote safe cycling).

Donald Trump, who was there by his wife’s side in the Rose Garden, signed a proclamation that designates 7 May as “Be Best Day”. Roll it around on your tongue for a moment. Say it out loud. “Hey, friend, any plans for Be Best Day?” “Nah, I’ll probably just spend Be Best Day at home”.
“Be Best” just so plainly doesn’t hold up to the laws of English grammar, which require that a superlative adjective following an imperative verb be preceded by the definite article “the”. Be good – be better – be the best: that’s the rule. In the 1990s, the British military ran a TV ad campaign that ended with the slogan: “Army soldier: be the best.” Try it without the the. “Army soldier: be best.” It sounds like you’re translating from the Sanskrit.
How was the unfortunate name conceived? Could it have been Trump, surrounded by administration flunkies, in a brainstorming session in Washington, floating “Be Best” as a potential campaign name – and the assembled coterie being too polite – afraid, even – to correct her?
Or was it some inside joke about Trump’s English? (The first lady’s native Slovenian, like most Slavic tongues, Bulgarian and Macedonian excepting, has no definite articles.)
Or was it Donald’s influence?

But then it emerged that Trump’s inspiration – not for the first time – might have come from her predecessor, Michelle Obama. In 2016, the then-first lady exhorted men to “be better” … and suddenly it all starts to make sense. In an administration that has shown a penchant for petty oneupmanship, it seems the likeliest explanation. “She said ‘be better’? That’s nothing! We’ll outdo that. Be best!”
As we say, the silly name of a commendable public health program isn’t the most vital thing in the world right now. But come on now – there are standards to uphold. “Be Best?” Is that … best they could do?

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