Obama's sidiolect put down by a white yet again

[Jonathan Lighter]

> our kids—look to political figures for a model as to how adults sound.

It's actually almost the opposite.

But what's the Karen Hughes connection?

And did you know that Congressman Ryan loves AC/DC and Zeppelin and is
really into outdoor sports and grabs fish with his bare hands?  His wife
does it too! He rarely wears an off-putting jacket or tie! His zingers are
funny!  Even alleged "Obama shill" Ashley Banfield said breathlessly that
Ryan has "fabulous hair."  Yay, Veepdude!

JL
On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 9:18 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Obama's sidiolect put down by a white yet again
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 7:16 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 5:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > Wow! I never guessed Sarah Palin was black!
> >
> > She's probably not. Of course, youneverknow.
> >
> > But the point would be that, in her case, "g-drop" isn't said by even
> > the most left-wing, "socialist" political pundit to be just some
> > linguistic bullshit that she sometime fakes in those desparate moments
> > when politics requires her to make herself *appear* to be of the
> > now-disenfranchised, white masses and to obscure the fact that she's
> > really of the enfranchised-since-George-Washington elite.
>
> From the conservative end of the pundit spectrum, here's Peggy Noonan
> in an Oct. '08 opinion piece for the WSJ, "Palin's Failin'":
>
> ---
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122419210832542317.html
> More than ever on the campaign trail, the candidates are dropping
> their G's. Hardworkin' families are strainin' and tryin'a get ahead.
> It's not only Sarah Palin but Mr. McCain, too, occasionally Mr. Obama,
> and, of course, George W. Bush when he darts out like the bird in a
> cuckoo clock to tell us we are in crisis. All of the candidates say
> "mom and dad": "our moms and dads who are struggling." This is Mr.
> Bush's former communications adviser Karen Hughes's contribution to
> our democratic life, that you cannot speak like an adult in politics
> now, that's too austere and detached, snobby. No one can say mothers
> and fathers, it's all now the faux down-home, patronizing—and
> infantilizing—moms and dads. Do politicians ever remember that in a
> nation obsessed with politics, our children—sorry, our kids—look to
> political figures for a model as to how adults sound?
> ---
>
> Discussed by Mr. Verb at the time:
>
>
> http://mr-verb.blogspot.com/2008/10/peggy-noonan-on-political-speech-and-g.html
>
> And plenty more in the Language Log archives on tactical g-dropping by
> a variety of politicians (including Palin):
>
> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3193
> + links therein
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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