The President as English teacher

[Tom Zurinskas]

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Why do you think a lie to a person with brain damage is not a lie?
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Why do you say that all those who sent the President post cards saying they=
 liked his speeches didn't understand English well?
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Tom Zurinskas=2C USA - CT20=2C TN3=2C NJ33=2C FL7+=20
see truespel.com phonetic spelling


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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: The President as English teacher
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
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> From the NYTimes article:
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> Since the sales took off=2C he has received postcards from
> readers saying they had been touched by Mr. Obama's speeches=2C but
> "those same people have said they were moved even though they didn't
> understand English well=2C" he said. "Some even said the only phrase
> they caught was=2C 'Yes=2C we can.' They said they were in tears nonethel=
ess."
> Mr. Yamamoto said there was a sincerity about Mr. Obama's
> speaking style that listeners could perceive phonetically=2C combined
> with a delivery that was almost musical.
> "That seems to result in sensation=2C the kind of which you get
> from listening to good music=2C" he said.
> Other observers say that Japanese buyers probably feel as
> though they understand his speeches just from the nonverbal cues.
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> [By the way=2C was this in the print edition? I didn't see it in Boston.]
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> On the other hand=2C there is the speech of another president=2C "the Old
> Charmer=2C the Actor=2C with his practiced rhetoric=2C his histrionics=2C=
 his
> emotional appeal"=2C which is received by most patients in the aphasia
> ward convulsed with laughter=2C others looking bewildered=2Coutraged=2C
> apprehensive. "Something has gone" in these persons=2C "but something
> has come ... has been immensely enhanced=2C so that -- at least with
> emotionally-laden utterance -- the meaning may be fully grasped even
> when every word is missed." "One cannot lie to an aphasic."
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> From Chapter 9=2C "The President's Speech"=2C in _The Man Who Mistook
> His Wife for a Hat_=2C by Oliver Sacks.
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> Joel
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> At 10/12/2009 08:23 AM=2C Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>On Mon=2C Oct 12=2C 2009 at 7:29 AM=2C Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/business/global/12iht-speech.html?ref=
=3Deducation
>>
>>The Wall St. Journal reported on Obama as Japanese English teacher
>>back in February:
>>
>>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517693330337663.html
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