From the president’s press conference this morning in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Prodi:
Q: And the deadline for the Kosovo independence —
BUSH: What? Say that again?
Q Deadline for the Kosovo independence?
BUSH: A decline?
Q Deadline, deadline.
BUSH: Deadline. Beg your pardon. My English isn’t very good. (emphasis added)
He said it; not me.
What a wonder land we live in! Millions of rabid xenophobes spend their shuttered days and fitful nights in mortal terror of those who possess poor English skills—and we have just such an unskilled individual for President. Only in Bu$hylvania….
*cue the Bushylvania National Anthem: An assortment of melodic interludes from the 3 Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and Roy Rogers’ singing “Happy Trails to You….”*
Well, true, but actually, that sounds like a good recovery.
Maybe the Commander Guy had some beer before the press conference. You know, hair of the dog and all that.
Well, Europe’s a bit like that. It’s a lot of fun trying to work out what everyone else is saying. So many languages all mixed up. Even your own language starts to become unrecognizable. I think Mr Bush should move to Europe. They have these black-ops places where you can try out different languages. They won’t believe anything you say, of course. But Mr Bush is used to that so he’d go down well there.
I can’t believe I’ve been so nasty. It’s the ‘dead’ bit that got him, I guess. Probably has a complex about that now.
Out of curiosity… Does anyone know whether the reporter asking the question was a native speaker of English?
In general, “deadline” and “decline” aren’t all that easy to mix up, because in “deadline”, the stress (accent) is on the first syllable (“dead”) and in “decline” it’s on the second (“line”). But. As a non-native speaker, I know very well, that it’s very easy o misplace an accent, especially if one knows a word mostly from reading, not from hearing it spoken. My husband hardly ever corrects my spoken English but, when he does, it’s usually because I stressed a word in a wrong place.
If the questioner was not a native speaker, he might have pronounced “DEADline” as “deadLINE”. If that were the case, then, as much as it hurts me to say anything nice about Bush… Saying “My English isn’t very good” would have been a graceful and gracious (Southern-style ) way of dealing with the problem, making the reponsibility for the misunderstanding lie with the listener, not the speaker.
Just because Bush also hapened to be speaking the truth (for a change), wouldn’t negate that.
na-ganna-dooo-it. not gonna make a smartass remark. too easy.
oh fuck it. fish-barrel-blam!
Maybe we can get Tom Tancredo to deport George W. Bush. After all, Bush’s lack English language skills obviously prove he hasn’t assimilated yet and isn’t that the damn problem with all of those foreigners anyway?
Re Libra: I agree, y’all just try to pronounce deadline in your worst Italian accent. Italian doesn’t do silent letters…
“deadlin-eh”
I sheepishly submit:
He said it, not me
is not considered “good” English either, carpet.
“me” –> “I”
The construction is an eliptical one; you would never say “Me not say it.”
Many would probably suggest your form is accepted in common usage, such as conversationally. But in a post meant to comment on someone’s less-than-total grasp of the language, I assume the thread’s author would want to avoid it. Thanks for listening.
It’s not hard of hearing. It’s hard of listening.
I could give him a break on this for his self-deprecating humor. The real problem is not that he is weak on English but that he has such limited understanding of history and foreign relations.
Comments are closed.