Connect
Sponsors
Currently Reading
Terms
The Book Lady's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Reviews and articles posted here are property of The Book Lady's Blog and are not to be posted elsewhere without permission. Please contact me if you wish to post any of my work, or any excerpt thereof, in any other location or format.
Books and Blogs
Miscellaneous
Technical Stuff
Design Credits
Oct
03
A note to Sarah Palin
2008 at 8am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
The word is pronounced “new-cleeeee-ar” not “new-cue-lar.” There is no ‘u’ in the middle of the word. That is all.
Whether you like her or not, you have to admit that 8 years of mangled grammar, silly neologisms (strategery, anyone?), and mispronunciation are enough.
I’m with you on that! It drives me nuts to hear public speakers mispronounce the word. Worst of all was Jimmy Carter. He couldn’t say “nuclear engineer” correctly …… and he was one.
[...] The word is pronounced “new-cleeeee-ar” not “new-cue-lar.” There is no ‘u’ in the middle of the word. That is all. Whether you like her or not, you have to admit that 8 years of mangled grammar, silly neologisms (strategery, anyone? …[Continue Reading] [...]
Amen.
I know she can’t help it, but her accent grates on me.
At least we’re focusing on the important things! How a VP candidate pronounces a word is very important. It’s also great to smear her for things she never actually did (like banning books). Please check your facts. While we’re talking about banned books, I just heard this morning that Fairfax County School District in VA is “banning” 85 books that offer a counter-argument to the 400+ books that they already have on the shelves that promote a gay lifestyle. Where’s the balance? Shouldn’t we be against book banning across the board. Or, are we only against banning certain books?
Let’s look at the real choice. The other side is giving us a very articulate presidential candidate without any experience or accomplishments to speak of. A good marketing campaign is obviously superior to the campaign of a true American hero with a proven track record of reform and the ability to take on his own party on important issues. Right?
Like it or not, small town America does appreciate Sarah Palin. When you make fun of her, you make fun of us.
I agree. And I know this is totally silly and nit-picky, but she called Joe Biden “Senator O’Biden” at one point. Hey, I might have slipped up and made the same mistake, but that’s hilarious!
Meg: I thought that was hilarious, too.
Sarah: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’d like to point out that I have never referred to Sarah Palin attempting to ban books because the facts on that accusation are fuzzy at best. So please check your facts before you accuse me of “smearing” her. I don’t appreciate being criticized for something I haven’t done.
Regarding Fairfax, VA: I’m completely against banning books for any reason whatsoever. There’s no point in trying to strike “balance” in what we ban because banning books isn’t about balance–it’s about taking power away from ideas that scare people and putting it back into the hands of reactionaries who know they can only maintain control if they prevent individuals from thinking for themselves.
Thank you for clarifying the book banning issue. I’m glad to hear that you want all views to be in the public domain and you want to let an informed public decide what they agree and don’t agree with. I apologize for the false accusation.
I guess my main point is that there seems to be selective outrage when it comes to book banning. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt many of the traditional anti-book banning folks will be too upset that Fairfax isn’t allowing in books with a religiously based point of view.
There also seems to be selective mocking of Sarah Palin. Sure, she isn’t media savvy and has made some gaffes. But, why are we picking on her so much and ignoring the quite humorous gaffes that Senator Biden has made? Shouldn’t we be more inclined to support this strong woman in this historic race (or at least give her the benefit of the doubt)? Maybe Hillary had a point when she questioned the Obama campaign and the media with regards to sexism. I don’t know, just something to think about.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment. And, I apologize if I’m getting off track as to the intent of your original post. Just my thoughts…
I see that AMEN is already taken, so I will just say Amen, sister instead! Honestly, these people have coaches – did she not practice the word, or perhaps the coach didn’t know how to pronounce it either.
Sarah: Welcome back and thanks for the apology
While I’m not a fan of anti-gay books (or anything that promotes intolerance, really) I do absolutely agree that all ideas and points of view should be represented in the public domain. How else are we supposed to make informed decisions?
I think Senator Biden is also being criticized in the media because he does have a history of letting his mouth run without catching himself, but he’s been pretty well-behaved during the campaign so far. I love that a woman is in the historic position that Sarah Palin is, but I don’t believe we should support her simply because she is a woman, and I don’t believe in giving anyone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to electing our country’s leaders. Scrutiny is necessary and important. And it’s very important that our president and vice-president are able to be articulate and represent our country well.
No need to apologize for getting off track…this blog is all about dialogue, where that may lead.
O my goodness…you are so right about that! I cannot believe this woman is running for office…what do we have here, the grammar ignoramus….much like Dan Quayle and his misspellings!
Oh, not another Dubya or Quayle. Haven’t we had enough already????
I’m with you on this one. I personally was annoyed by the winking. I found it condescending and inappropriate for a vice presidential debate. I do think that she did a much better job than in the Couric interview.
Personally, I wouldn’t vote for someone just because they are a woman either. This is not the time for sympathy votes either.
You are so right “….I don’t believe in giving anyone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to electing our country’s leaders. Scrutiny is necessary and important. And it’s very important that our president and vice-president are able to be articulate and represent our country well.”
I think that there is plenty of criticism on both sides of the aisle. I believe that everyone has a right to their views and to discuss them.
I now know how Elizabeth must feel on The View!
I’m asking a serious question. I’m not trying to be annoying. Isn’t it possible that we are being intolerant of people that are different from us? We all speak of tolerance in glowing terms except when it is someone that we’re intolerant of. Just in this post I see intolerance for people with certain accents and people that commit the sin of mispronouncing words (and God forbid, may wink too much).
As Karl pointed out, President Carter mispronounced nuclear. Regardless of his lack of success as President, he was certainly a very smart man. He was a nuclear engineer for goodness sake! Is it possible that we just may be making unfair statements as a result of our cultural differences? Is it possible that we are being intolerant?
What I think is important is that we are never intolerant of people. We are all God’s creations with unique gifts and talents. I think it is fair to be intolerant of behavior. I think we can all agree that there are extreme behaviors that we are intolerant of – murder, stealing, lying, etc.
Since everyone seems very fond of scrutiny and not giving people the benefit of the doubt, let’s look at Joe Biden’s very recent gaffes. I for one, think Senator Biden is a good man and I have a great deal of respect for him. I think he is certainly qualified to be President, unlike his running mate. But, fair is fair, right?
Just in the last few weeks he has:
- Said that FDR was President and there was TV in 1929 (both false)
- Asked a man in a wheelchair to stand up in a crowd (very embarrassing)
- Said that one of Barack Obama’s campaign ads criticizing John McCain was “terrible” (this is the one that made fun of McCain for not using a computer even though that is mostly because of his physical limitations due to his war injuries)
- Made a strange statement about his Beretta (handgun) saying that Barack Obama better not try to take it from him because he knows how to use it
- Disagreed with Barack Obama in his initial response to the bailout plan
- Etc., etc. etc.
Of course there are the oldies but goodies like when he asserted that Obama was not qualified to be Commander and Chief, made a crack about the ethnicity of people who work at convenience stores, and many other embarrassing moments.
Since everyone thinks these things are so funny, there are a lot more here: http://www.gop.com/BidenGaffeClock/
Again, I don’t think that these things mean that he is a dummy. I just want to be fair. I’m sure everyone thinks these are just as funny as the Palin gaffes.
You know, I really don’t think this is a matter of being intolerant. This is what people do during elections–we look at the candidates and discuss the things we like and dislike. I already knew I didn’t like Sarah Palin, and her repeated mispronunciation of a very basic (and frequently used) word during the debate really irked me. Probably because hearing George W. Bush do it for the last eight years has really irked me. I’m sure there are things about the Democratic candidates that Republicans crazy and become water cooler jokes. In fact, the existence of the Biden Gaffe Clock is proof of that.
Discriminating against someone because of their race, gender, religion, etc. is being intolerant of differences. Treating someone differently because their ideas are different is being intolerant. Refusing to vote for someone who I believe will just contribute to the problem of making Americans appear unintelligent and inarticulate is not intolerance—it’s informed decision making. And if you want to make fun of Joe Biden and refuse to vote for him or Obama because they say or do things you don’t agree with or which you feel jeopardize our country, that’s your prerogative, too. When it comes to political commentary, none of the candidates is the victim of intolerance, and it’s ridiculous to suggest that, especially in reference to a privileged white candidate running with a wealthy white male who owns so many homes he can’t keep track of them.
Well, regardless of my personal political views, as a born and bred Alaskan I am truly amused by the number of “small town Americans” that have fallen for that act.
These “small town Americans” know nothing about Mrs. Palin other than what the campaign machine has churned out. And very little of that is true.
Alaskans are getting a big kick out of all this and it just goes to prove what we’ve known all along: politics is one big Hollywood show.
I agree completely. It bugs me every time I hear *anyone* mispronounce that word and other variations of it. I had a 7th grade science teacher who insisted on calling the nucleus of a cell the “new-key-less” and I wanted to scream at her to read the word letter by letter and sound it out.
At least she can pronounce the name of the state she is currently governor of. My governor can’t do that.
As a book lover, I’m a bit of a grammar nut myself. I went through the transcript of the VP debate (no, I guess I don’t have much of a life) and found 28 grammatical errors by Senator Biden (excluding normal debate starts and stops). Here is just one example:
Biden said this:
“The issue is, how different is John McCain’s policy going to be than George Bush’s? I haven’t heard anything yet. I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush’s.”
It’s not different than, it’s different from.
I’m not sure what this means as far as his contributing to making America appear less articulate and less intelligent. You’ll have to tell me.
And, just to clarify my point. Everyone is free to vote for the candidate that they like best. My argument is with the odd criteria that is used to make that very important decision – mispronunciation and strange sounding accents.
Let’s talk about Barack Obama and John McCain. What is their experience to be President? What are their policies?
Two things: I have never and will never base my vote on something as trivial as mispronunciation or a candidate’s accent. I knew long before Sarah Palin mispronounced ‘nuclear’ that I would not for her and John McCain.
Also, this post was not intended to bring about a lengthy political debate. This has been an interesting conversation, but a discussion about the candidates and their qualifications (or lack thereof) is outside the focus of this blog, so I’m going to decline the offer. I love talking politics, but I prefer to do that in other arenas. This blog is about books and my random thoughts on life, and I’m going to keep it that way.