It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => General Board => Topic started by: Glock32 on April 04, 2011, 04:27:20 PM
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Is anyone else sick of this Ruling Class attempt to express their intellectual superiority over we provincial rubes? This has annoyed me for a while, but the latest example is Obama pronouncing Ivory Coast in the local French dialect. I don't know, it just irritates me because it has a lot of unspoken significance. It's another way of expressing "the American way is wrong and inferior; the internationally accepted term is better". Granted, Obama did not invent this practice, but he does it with a certain smarmy smirk. Pah-KEE-stahn, Qatar is now "gutter", Ivory Coast is "Cote d'Ivoire". He's so earnest in trying to convey how post-American he is. I just bristle at pretentiousness masquerading as intellectual depth and worldliness.
It's not uncommon for one language to pronounce another language's terms in a way more natural to the first language. I strongly get the impression that it's only Anglicized, and especially Americanized, words that are touted as anachronistic and badly in need of updating. Nobody is up in arms over the French calling London "Londres" or Germans pronouncing Florida as flah-REE-duh.
Maybe it's just me? I don't know. But I'll damn well call it Pair-us instead of Pah-ree unless I'm actually in France and speaking to the natives. I expect statements from the President to convey useful information to the American citizenry, not come across as a 3 AM commercial for Rosetta Stone.
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No its not just you. More when I'm off the dumbfone.
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Where's the ebonics?
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The purpose of written or verbal communication is to transmit an idea or thought. When the speaker or writer uses descriptions that fail to communicate accurately, then the speaker fails in his goal of communication. If this is purposely done, then the writer or speaker is just being an ass.
OK, Obama is an ass.
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Just think: If the British had won the American Revolution, we'd all be speaking English today.
(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-music024.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
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He's such a pretentious fop.
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The purpose of written or verbal communication is to transmit an idea or thought. When the speaker or writer uses descriptions that fail to communicate accurately, then the speaker fails in his goal of communication. If this is purposely done, then the writer or speaker is just being an ass.
OK, Obama is an ass.
I believe he is a pompous ass...... ::smalldeadhorse::
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It's not just him, it's the whole media complex, the administration and the bureaucracy.
How many different ways was Abu Graib written and spoken? They mangle the hell out of Bahrain - ba-hah-rain - by making three syllables out of two; the Qatar thing was ALWAYS annoying; they're inconsistent with Pakistan - if the first "a" is long, the second ought be also, to wit: pock-ee-stahn. What we get is either pock-ee-stan or pack-ee-stahn.
For a long time, Americans used English phonetics to translate the foreign into plain-English; so veddyveddy common.
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Yes, and I've also notice with "Bahrain" they're now trying to inject that throaty vocalization apparently common to the Arabic language.
I think this whole trend in the media complex began with field reporters trying to demonstrate how culturally aware/sensitive they are by pronouncing Latin American countries with rolling Rs, etc. I really want to reach through the screen on a regular basis these days. So many people in need of throttling.
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There was a hilarious SNL skit with Jimmy Smits making fun of this exact habit, of Americans overpronouncing foreign words and names.
So far as I can tell the clip is scrubbed from the Internet. Can't find it anywhere.
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It's merely a "sea change" in Liberal "chic-speak" which is both "transparent" and "unsustainable" .
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Or would that be sheik-speak?
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If you sheik it more than once...