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I have been wondering whether the whole matter would have become
an issue of concern if it were not intertwined with politics. Didn't
Obama practice precisely the process by which new phrases spread in
language, as speakers borrow cute sayings from each other. Do speakers
normally credit their sources or model speakers? It's one thing to
plagiarize somebody's work, and worse in their own words without
crediting them. But I wonder how often one would have to credit other
speakers for copying and popularizing their "tours de phrases"--I
suppose I must credit the person who coined this cute Gallicism too. <br>
<br>
Sali.<br>
<br>
Dennis Baron wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BE7FA928-8AEA-4369-B6A8-96930B2A4A6A@uiuc.edu"
type="cite">There's a new post on the Web of Language:
<br>
<br>
Just words: Is it plagiarism, homage, or business as usual when public
figures "forget" to footnote?
<br>
<br>
Hillary Clinton has been charging that her rival for the Democratic
presidential nomination, Barack Obama, offers voters words, not deeds,
and worse than that, the words aren’t even his own. But the former
first lady hasn’t always credited her sources, either. That’s only a
problem if you expect public figures to adhere to the same code of
ethics we demand of college students.
<br>
<br>
If you haven’t been conscious for the last few days, here’s what this
war of words is all about. In response to Clinton’s charge that he’s
all talk, no action, Obama borrowed some words from the playbook of his
long-time friend and Harvard Law School classmate, Massachusetts
governor Deval Patrick.
<br>
<br>
.....
<br>
<br>
While English teachers all over the country responded to the latest
attack that a public figure “forgot” to footnote by wringing their
hands and wondering where they went wrong in their efforts to get
students to credit their sources, Wisconsin’s democrats gave Obama a
decisive victory in the primary, with 58% of the votes compared to
Clinton’s 42%.
<br>
<br>
But that didn’t stop the charges and counter-charges, which continue in
the news and on the Net. Clinton didn’t actually come out and accuse
Obama of plagiarism (though others saw her drift and quickly attacked
him for word theft). Her point was that politicians should use their
own words.
<br>
<br>
....
<br>
<br>
Hillary Clinton’s publisher, Simon and Schuster, hired Barbara Feinman
Todd, who directs the journalism program at Georgetown University in
Washington, to ghostwrite her 1996 New York Times best seller, It Takes
a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, a book whose on-tape
version won a Grammy for Clinton in 1997 and whose title is not her own
words but an homage to the African proverb, “It takes a village to
raise a child.” (Although it was no secret that Feinman Todd ghosted
the book, she's not acknowledged in the credits.)
<br>
<br>
It takes a village to run a campaign, as well, and the modern version
of that village includes not just fund raisers, but also speech
writers, media advisors, press secretaries, spin doctors, money
launderers, and even dirty tricksters. It might include fact checkers,
research assistants, and librarians, but even if it does, their job is
not to crank out footnotes, because there’s no room for citations in a
sound bite.
<br>
<br>
.....
<br>
<br>
read the rest on The Web of Language
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage">www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Dennis Baron
<br>
Professor of English and Linguistics
<br>
Department of English <br>
University of Illinois <br>
<br>
608 S. Wright St.
<br>
Urbana, IL 61801
<br>
<br>
office: 217-244-0568
<br>
fax: 217-333-4321
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron">www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron</a>
<br>
<br>
read the Web of Language:
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage">www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a>
<br>
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<br>
The American Dialect Society - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.americandialect.org">http://www.americandialect.org</a>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
**********************************************************
Salikoko S. Mufwene <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:s-mufwene@uchicago.edu">s-mufwene@uchicago.edu</a>
Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago 773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene">http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene</a>
**********************************************************
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org