When President Barack Obama first proposed his health care plan in 2009, Republicans gleefully dubbed it "Obamacare," eager to drape what they hoped would be a disastrous program around his neck.

Now the Democrats have turned the tables by labeling President Donald Trump's health care bill "Trumpcare." But the term "Trumpcare," like the bill itself, has fizzled on the launch pad, doomed, not by politics, but by pronunciation.

"Obamacare," with its Dih-DUH-dih-DUH rhythm reflects the smooth, iambic lilt of "Medicare." Its syllables flow naturally like a train clicking along the tracks. But the clunky clash of the hard "p" and a hard "c" in "Trumpcare" makes it hard to say and less likely to proliferate.

Defaming U.S. presidents by desecrating their own names — call it "pres-ecration" — has a fascinating history.

The most deliciously abusive pres-ecration arose during the first years of the Great Depression when contempt for President Herbert Hoover spawned "Hoovervilles" (shanty towns), Hoover Hogs (rabbits caught for food) and "Hoover flags" (empty pockets turned inside out). Unfortunately for Hoover, his last name ended in a soft "r," providing an easy transition to whatever syllable followed.

Hoover's successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was not immune. When he prematurely cut back spending for New Deal programs in 1937, he precipitated what Republicans alliteratively called "The Roosevelt Recession."

Opponents of the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Vietnam War dubbed these conflicts "Mr. Madison's War," "Mr. Polk's War," and "Johnson's War," respectively. (The fervent anti-war activists of the 1960s, unlike their nineteenth-century predecessors, didn't dilute their venom with the sugar of "Mr.")

One of the most memorable president-inspired labels was "Reaganomics." In this case, as with "Obamacare" and "Trumpcare," appending a suffix to a president's name had more to do with sound than substance.

As political pundit and language guru William Safire observed in 2005, "nomics" blends nicely with last names ending in "n," hence, "Reaganomics," "Clintonomics," and "Nixonomics," but no "Fordonomics," "Carternomics" or Bushonomics." "This has nothing to do with politics," Safire wrote. "It's the elision quality of the last letter of the president's last name."

And so our history is shaped, not only by the grand sweep of events, issues and policies, but also by the impish quirks of language.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.