Last night my liberal online acquaintance Hugh sent me a tongue-in-cheeky email, originated by an Andrew Borowitz, about president-elect Barack Obama’s impeccable use of the English language. According to his posting, some people are upset that the Harvard-educated Obama is able to string complete sentences together. Not only that, but he uses proper grammar. Subjects and verbs agree. Participles don’t dangle. Double negatives are nowhere to be heard. Oh, the horror!
A former Republican candidate for vice president, concerned about Obama’s speech, commented, “Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also.”
As a retired English teacher, I find it refreshing to listen to someone in authority who has command of English as a first language. For the past eight years I have cringed whenever the current president, what’s his name, butchers his words…in spite of having a Yale diploma. If I hear the word “nuclear” being pronounced “newk-you-ler” one more time, I think I’ll just blow up on the spot.
I’m ready for a new Voice of America from one who knows his word usage from word abusage. No more anguished English. As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Obama, when it comes to good grammar, you is da bomb!!!
4 comments:
LOL! I cringe at our current lame duck's speech & smirks!!
I'm excited we have an intellectual in the building!
and i only have one thing to say:
"YOU BETCHA!!!"
Hey, the so called intellectal only has an IQ of 130, so I'm not expecting much. I'm glad he uses proper English to tell me things that make my blood boil. I won't get started. Have you tried to talk to a 13 year old lately? Sounds just like your last line. I must be getting too old for any of this stuff. The Ivy League schools have been giving out degrees to anyone who can pay the alumni fees for some years and that is a sad, sad thing. It is the state of our educational system that is to blame and sorry it is. I actually used to teach a class called GRAMMAR at Pittsburg high many years ago. A couple of my gymrat friends nearly fainted when I diagramed one of their sentences a few weeks ago. He looked at it like ancient Aramaic. With my mental decline, I am probably going to be right in sync with popular English usage. Is it any wonder I listen to the news on the BBC, watch British dramas and am turning into an Angliophile?
I don't know how to check the validity of it, but everything I've heard & read says Obama graduated from Harvard law magna cum laude... I think that says something.
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