Pawlenty's accent hopping

[Tom Zurinskas]

Accent hopping can be seen as "inauthentic" for a politician.  And who votes for a phoney.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/16/pawlenty-southern-drawl/


I see "paw" and "lenty".  But apparently the "aw" becomes schwa-like in pronunciaton by the announcer in the site above, almost dropped sometimes, sounding almost like "plenty".  The announcer did this with "political" as well, saying "plitical".  A fast talker.

The official pronunciation is at the Minnesota pronunciation guide site
Tim Pawlenty (puh-LEHN'-tee) -- governor   ~Pullentee
http://www.ap.org/minnesota/prono.html   Lots of DASH-spell phonetics there

So there is no "paw" in Pawlenty.  Let's hope he has a leg to stand on.  But maybe that's why he's accent hopping.  Pawlessly hopping.

I can sympathize.  I went to school in Tenn.  When I go back I start drawling immediately.  I like the Southern drawl.  It's like a different way to be.  You ain't being phoney if you don't know you're being phoney.

Tom Zurinskas, first Ct 20 yrs, then Tn 3, NJ 33, Fl 9.
Learn the alphabet and sounds of US English at justpaste.it/ayk












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> Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 08:04:04 -0400
> From: bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
> Subject: Re: fodder
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Ben Zimmer
> Subject: Re: fodder
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, May 22, 2011 at 9:19 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >
> > > > On May 22, 2011, at 5:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > > > http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/149845/20110522/camping-doomsday-rapture.htm
> > > > > Indeed, discussions about May 21, 2011 being the "end of the world" were
> > > > > met with worldwide fodder -- a bonanza for American late-night television
> > > > > comedians.
> > > >
> > > I presume the (linguistic) point here is the rather bizarre use of
> > > "fodder" to mean... I'm not sure, exactly. My best guess is that this
> > > is the result of poor editing -- the "end of the world" discussions
> > > could be fodder for the comedians (as well as a bonanza), but another
> > > word is needed after "worldwide" -- "derision" or "mirth" or some
> > > such.
> >
> > "Met with worldwide [X] fodder" doesn't make sense either.
> >
> > The prophecy itself was the "[X] fodder."
>
> Yes, that's what I meant. A word other than "fodder" is needed after
> "worldwide", while "fodder" only makes sense in the slot currently
> held by "bonanza". Which suggests editorial sloppiness rather than
> semantic shift.
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org