Thursday, November 20, 2008

Obama's language stirs controversy

An article forwarded to me this morning by my mother:


By Andy Borowitz.

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it alienating to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, now stop showing off!"

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there--I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

3 comments:

runnerfrog said...

LOL I'm sorry for coming back so often: This is from theonion.com isn't? That site rules ;-) Oh my.

Sarah Palin is the new Paris Hilton: Sarah Paris should offer a job to Palin Hilton, or viceversa.

Whenever the "public" as it's called, get tired of "Mr. Obama", we can accept him here unconditionally. Don't send Joe or Tito instead, we will notice.

Katie Bowen said...

Whadaya mean, sorry? The Half Note appreciates your continued support and every one of your astute, sometimes wonderfully ridiculous comments. I say you should be here more often, not less!

Wasn't sure where this articel came from--now I can give the onion credit.

Thanks Cristian.

runnerfrog said...

Oh, it was Andy Borowitz
I'll have to revisit that site.