Posted on 03/19/2002 7:43:32 AM PST by Texaggie79
Today, whilst speaking to women business leaders, President Bush revealed the latest Bushism. He said that he was "gladened" by the progress we are making.
I expect to see this included in the word of the day threads.
If they ever let him out of his room again. I hope this wasn't the thread that broke the camels back.
a. cricket
He'll be back tomorrow
a gladdened bump. . .
. . .and one more; such good company GW keeps. . .
Robert Louis Stevenson: 'He hears with gladdened heart the thunder Peal, and loves the falling dew; He knows the earth ... '
As for things like "nu-cyoo-lar", such variations in pronunciation are a common aspect of most dialects [to those who would suggest that he should know that "nuclear" is derived from "nucleus", I would respond, "nu-cyoo-lus"?]
Actually, "nucleo/nucleu" step is nearly unique (if not totally so) in having a "cl" double-consonant following a long "oo" vowel. Such a double consonant can be very difficult to say, and can easily pick up an extra syllable (e.g. as "jewelry" is often pronounced "jool-er-y").
Adapatations of language to pronouncibility are hardly a recent phenomenon. Certain consonantal changes have occurred in different languages over hundreds of years following their spinoff of Indo-European. Consider the consonant pairs (p,f) and (c,g) and examine some common words in different languages: (pices,poisson,fish) or (cat,gato), etc. While the usages are standardized today in the different languages, there clearly were shifts in pronunciation over time.
To be sure, one should try to avoid sounding like a moron when speaking. But many of the interesting aspects of Bush's speech patterns are part of a common shift in pursuit of pronouncibility.
[BTW, I believe formalism is generally much more important in writing than speech; I accept and use many colloquialisms in speech I wouldn't dream of writing except as part of a dialogue.]
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