I've not had a pop at the Independent for a while so I was rather pleased when I read this on the bus. Apparently a draft of George Bush's speech was accidentally sent out and it had phonetic aides on pronouncing foreign names in it. I know, it's a scandal isn't it? The man is so thick he can't pronounce Aung San Suu Kyi without an aide! And yes I'm being sarcastic.
Seriously though, of course this a funny story because of the cock-up. And yes, it's sort of diary story'ish and made all the better by the fact that Bush's pronunciation of words, what with his Texan accent, help feed into the meme that he is somehow not actually very bright.
But really what got me mildly annoyed was the way the whole thing is portrayed as a serious news story, but is actually a "lets all laugh at the funny sounding yank who can't read like us clever people" story. It's utter snobbery of the highest order, and it's made all the more irritating by this bit.
While prompts were provided for Kyrgyzstan [KEY-geez-stan] and Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a], he was offered no such help with Sierra Leone or with Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader in Burma. He made two runs at the latter and mangled the former, seemingly renaming it Syria Leone. (A member of his axis of evil, surely.)See the bit in brackets at the end? And Simon Kelner wonders why Blair called his publication a viewspaper not a newspaper? Jesus wept. It's like a sarky Ed comment in Private Eye added into the text of a full page story in the International News section. It's utterly pathetic and not serious paper of record journalism.
Also just think about this for a second. Put a Texan accent in your head, and then say "Sierra" to yourself with it. It's actually perfectly reasonable that spoken at pace it could come out sounding like "Syria". I'm willing to bet as well that early drafts of speeches by many world leaders have phonetic aides in them as well - of coruse, in those cases it would probably be perefctly alright, but if you're Bush it's proof that you're a bit of dummy.
10 comments:
I know at least three Oxford dons who do that, the thickies.
This wouldn't be a story if it were a one off but Bush has so much form in mangling the English language that it is eminently reportable. Not so long ago at the APEC (Bush - OPEC) thanked the Australians (Bush - Austrians). You might expect talking to most people who don't follow politics or foreign affairs to make mistakes but Bush has been President for nearly 7 years. You'd think he would have improved with all the practise.
The problem is that in America it is thought that anyone can be President of the USA. In 99-00 Bush and his team were happy to admit he 'wasn't the sharpest tool in the box' and reassured people by saying he'd hire the best people to advice him. I'm unsure whether Bush is a victim of bad advice or is already so certain of his opinions that he doesn't listen. I suspect less of the former and more of the later. Reagan showed that though he wasn't a politicians politician he knew that he had to listen and lean heavily on his experienced advisers. At least in speech making he had the added advantage of script memorizing from his earlier career. In my opinion the poorest Presidents are the ones who jump from Governor to President and who have no experience of Congress, federal office or international affairs. I also doesn't help that Bush cultivates his anti-intellectual credentials either as a political tactic or he truly isn't that intelligent. Anyway I think his record in office shows how a President of Bush's quality can wreak massive damage to people, society and the law.
Some months ago I came across a blog post saying that the whole "Bush is stupid" meme was put about my Karl Rove. The purpose, allegedly, was to encourage Bush's opponents to misunderestimate him.
I wish now that I'd made a note of the blog, or had followed the story up and verified it. I've no idea whether it's true. But it's mildly amusing to wonder whether the Bush-slaggers-off are unknowingly doing Rove's bidding.
This is standard US practice. Glance at any international story in the New York Times and it will have identical phonetic aides after any slightly unusual foreign name.
"The purpose, allegedly, was to encourage Bush's opponents to misunderestimate him."
How well it worked, too, if true...
Surely a Texan would know how to pronounce a Spanish-ish word naturally?!?!
Bush is not thick. Nobody can take control of a country in that way who is stoopid.
Don't forget London, (LAN-nen), Liverpool (LI-ver-PEW-el) and Glasgow (GLAZZ-gie); Burma (Mee-an-mar), Bombay (Mum-BAI); and Referendum (Standup-forr-Brritain's-interrests).
The only reason the Indy has any circulation is because it is given away to every hotel, travelodge and the like in the country.
So they made fun on Bush? Who cares, the man is already a faliure.
PS. Hows that Iraq war thing going? (Bwaaahahahahahahahahaha!)
Not good petrol prices have continued to rise even though we stole all the oil. Someone should write a letter or something.
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