Obama's grammar
April 6th 2009 18:14
In a recent NYTimes article, the op-ed writers note that grammar junkies can, of late, be counted amongst Barack Obama's toughest critics. Why? The president misuses the personal pronoun, as in the construction "Michelle and I". Apparently this is a crime most unforgiveable coming from an educated, intelligent head of state. (Note: I discussed "me"/"I" usage in a previous post.)
Everyone knows that George W. Bush made more than his share of language gaffes, but the worst that his linguistic peccadilloes ever prompted was scorn and ridicule. Granted, he had much bigger problems than unintelligibility. Humourist Andy Horowitz wrote a Huffington Post article entitled "Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy". Ostensibly a jab at Bush, the article also implies a criticism of many Americans' perceived illiteracy:
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language. Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."
On the other hand, Obama, being on the whole more articulate than Bush, is held to a higher standard. Generally, people perceive good speakers as being intelligent than awkward speakers. The Obama mystique--charisma, fluency, and youth--automatically raises one's expectations. I, for one, would like to say that, regardless of politics, the American president's just a man who, like many of us, had grammar rules drilled into him at an early age. At the very least, the grammar errors he's made are well-intentioned, rather than simply ignorant. As Russell Smith of The Globe and Mail puts it, "Obama, like a nervous junior librarian, has a tendency to hypercorrection."
| 50 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
