Pronunciation guide
Was anyone else who watched the State of the Union completely distracted by GWB’s pronunciation? Mr. President:
-it’s PEN-IN-SOO-LA, not PEN-IN-SHOO-LA
-it’s TERROR, not TERRA
-and for the sake of all that’s good and holy, for the last time, it’s NOO-CLEE-UR, not NOO-KYU-LUR
On PBS, they showed a close-up of the South Korean ambassador right before he said “PEN-IN-SHOO-LA”. I imagined a thought balloon over the ambassador’s head containing the word “idiot”.
Don’t take the bait; listen to the message, not the words.
He’s the People’s president, after all, and we murder our delivery of sentiment on a rather continual basis.
My favorite moment, naturally, was watching Nancy Pelosi try not to fall out of her seat laughing to herself at the mention of the average amount of money American taxpayers would receive with tax-free dividends. The number (somewhere over $1,000) is not in dispute as an average: it is the mean. The median, of course, is nearer to $47. Ahhh … just the facts, ma’am.
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I go now.
Correction to the above post, and more information here:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/behindthetaxes_030124.html
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I go now.
If, immediately after the address, I had commenced with picking on his message instead of his words, I would still be typing. It’s easier if only because of volume.
You know, being like a President is hard, hard work. Work is efforted on a daily base. It’s like being to a World Pimp or some like.
What I want to know is, what is this Unita Stayce he’s always talking about? Not to mention how many times he talked about “coffidence.”
Did anyone else notice when he said “hadn’t” or possibly “ha’n’t” when he was supposed to say “hasn’t”? Very cowboy.
Now, let’s not forget referring to our nation’s police officers as “oaf-icers”… wait… perhaps he’s on to something here…
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3626479.html
‘I think it’s because they have their fingers on the buttons that they do it.’
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I go now.
Great article, Matt. It confirms what I’ve always said, that Bush chooses (for whatever reason) to pronounce it that way.
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The word “nuclear” is “not a phonetically hard thing to say,” Nunberg says. “It’s like ‘likelier.’ Phonetically, it’s not harder. People don’t say ‘likular.’ ”
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