Bush

[Charles Doyle]

Yes, that's what I am suggesting (and what I infer the CNBC commentator surmised).

Since birth, I have heard countless (different) Texas "accents," and the way Bush talks always sounds to me like an exaggerated attempt to imitate a few obvious features of the dialect some North Texans speak (although I have never tried to analyze Bush's phonology or stylistic mannerisms). The ungainliness of Bush's attempt is what makes it easy for Jon Stewart to do his impersonations.

Of course, I may also be unconsciously influenced by the "dislike" factor that Jonathan identifies.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:28:46 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>
>  Is Charlie (and/or CNBC) suggesting that The Prez's public accent is not merely an idiolect (no cracks, please) but a fraud?
>
>  I've read various movie reviews in my day that complained one second-rate star or another "switched accents" back and forth in the middle of a film, but except for the case of Kevin Costner in _Prince of Thieves_ , few of these complaints seemed to me to have much merit. (This is not the same thing as complaining that an actor's put-on accent is just bad.  Those complaints are usually quite true, as in the case of Costner.)
>
>  My guess is that the reviewers usually zero in on a phrase or two that would go unnoticed by virtually everybody. just as a way of further dissing a film they already hate.
>
>  (_Prince of Thieves_? I hated it!)
>
>  JL
>
>
>>
>>I didn't watch or listen to the president's press conference yesterday (I'm not a masochist!). But late last night I heard a commentator on CNBC talking about it. He noted that, at one particularly tense moment, Bush lost his infamous emulation of TexSpeak and reverted to his native New England dialect. I wonder what details the commentator was observing, phonologically speaking?
>>
>>--Charlie

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