(FORTUNE Magazine) – Military language has long been a part of business lingo. Companies "launch campaigns," "battle" for market share, and conduct "guerrilla marketing." But while business types bark orders like Patton, the language of war, says Stanford linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, is becoming more businesslike. Tanks aren't weapons; they're "assets." Bombers look for "high-value targets." China is a "strategic competitor." We caught up with Nunberg (the author of two books on language and chair of the American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel) to discuss warspeak, linguistic swagger, and William Jennings Bryan. --Alynda Wheat

Q: So the military is trying to legitimize death and destruction while businesspeople are trying to sound like badasses?

A: Essentially. The corporation has adopted martial language. It doesn't have anything to do with the actual military, but with neo-medieval romances like Star Wars and Mad Max.

Q: President Bush is both a corporate figure and Commander-in-Chief. Why can't he pronounce nuclear?

A: Maybe it's a linguistic swagger. Bush's father knows perfectly well how to pronounce "nuclear." Bush himself is a New Haven--born Yalie who found himself running for Congress in West Texas.

Q: We miss Churchill. What's happened to the eloquence of our leaders, anyway?

A: It's partly television's fault that oratory is dead. It's a medium that's particularly hard on florid stem-winders, as they used to be called. If William Jennings Bryan were alive today, his speeches would only get coverage on CSpan at two in the morning.

Q: Why don't most Americans seem to care about speaking properly?

A: I think there's a tendency to exaggerate the decline of American speech. If you look at a copy of People magazine, it has better writing than did The Saturday Evening Post. But there is some truth to your question. The ability to speak and to write lucid English has a market value nowadays about a quarter as big as the ability to install Windows on a PC.

Q: What are your favorite business words?

A: Positioning. And bandwidth.

Q: Which words that we use today are likely to be antiquated in ten years?

A: "World class" is outmoded. "Interface" is likely to wind up on the rubbish heap of history. Words born of new technology are like new life forms that wash up on the beach: Most are washed out by the next wave.

Q: You've also talked about the romance in business-speak--for example, companies courting each other and wooing their employees. Is there a love-and-war thing going on?

A: Business is like the Middle Ages. Marriage and war are the two ways of realizing your dynastic ambitions.