English manglers, listen up. Stop saying "talk the talk" and "walk the walk." Both are grossly incorrect. The only correct phrasing is "walk the talk." Misstating this figure of speech only reveals your ignorance.

The phrase is a New Age equivalent of "practice what you preach," which is a relatively old proverb (Note 1). The original, of course, is much more straightforward and easier to comprehend. If you are going to tell others what to do, then you should be doing exactly what you say.

To say that you "talk the talk" is both trite and meaningless. What, exactly, is "the talk?" For a used car salesman, it would be the puffed-up list of attributes of the car in question, all of dubious value. For a politician, it would be political mistakes of the past spun into unrecognizable glory in the present.

If you "walk the walk," does that mean your legs and feet still function? Do you stay on the sidewalk instead of wearing the grass down to the dirt in shortcuts? Or do you pirouette and jette from point A to point B across the esplanade?

Perhaps you are one of those superhumans who can both "talk the talk" and "walk the walk." Does that mean you can perambulate and masticate sweetened latex at the same time?

For US politicians, the English language is a primary tool. That fact makes mastery of English critical to success. Tortured grammar, ignorant idiom and fractured phrasing lead to misunderstandings, linguistic scandal and early senility.

So when Sarah Palin says that she is the running mate John McCain wanted because she can "talk the talk and walk the walk," she is really saying that neither has a full command of English. Could any English major trust such a party ticket? I doubt it.

Are you ready for a challenge? Now that you know the correct phrase to use in public, try this tongue twister and abandon all hope of ever remembering how to talk or walk.

Talk the talk and walk the walk,
Talk the walk and walk the talk.
Wok the wag and wag the wok,
Talk the walk and walk the talk.

1. First published as "We must practise what we preach." This appeared in L'Estrange's translation of "Senaca's Morals by Way of Abstract" in 1678.

I believe it should be first you "talk the walk" Your plan of action, etc now that you have made the statement you must be able to "walk the talk" in other words do what you said you were going to do. I have to disagree and say that "walk the talk" is mangling the phrase. To 'talk the talk' means that you are able to talk theoretically (or more particularly, boast)about how something is/should be done; but to "walk the walk" is to put into effect what has been boasted of. "Walk the talk" is a truncated version of "you gotta walk the walk, not just talk the talk" saving quite a few words. So, if a person is said to be able to 'talk the talk' only, it means he can boast, but cannot make good on his claims.