Posted on 11/16/2011 1:39:08 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Some folks, like Newt Gingrich, read Newt Gingrich's surge in this week's polls as a warm, if belated, embrace of his plan to balance the budget and get this country "back on track."
Other folks, like a certain Words Work writer, wonder if the word "ain't" reads a tad unpresidential.
"It ain't a day for quitting nothing," Texas governor Rick Perry assured us late last week after his infamous debate brain freeze.
....Oh, fine. But seriously, "ain't"? And not just "ain't," but "ain't a day for quitting nothing?" Was that the best line to hitch your star to on the day you're doing damage control for looking, um, less than cerebral?
"It could be another way to communicate, 'I'm just an average kind of guy,' " says Newman. "He's reinforcing that image: 'What you saw was not a pressured response, it's just me being me.' "
Cain and Perry have both, after all, billed themselves as real and unpolished from the beginning.
"My guess is it's just two guys marketing themselves as non-political types, average Joes, non-slick," says Newman.
"Ain't" also cuts the conversation short.
"It's a way of keeping it very concise and not having to bring into conversation words that could insinuate another meaning"Well, I don't intend on,' 'My plan is not,' " Newman says. "With 'ain't gonna happen,' the message remains, 'There's nothing to discuss here.' "
(Other that the small matter of a double negative in a single clause. But we're moving on. Honest, we are.)
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Uproot and Overhaul Washington
Nov 15, 2011: Perry on Hannity 15 minute audio
Nov. 14, 2011: Rick Perry on Congressional Insider Trading [:25]
LOL does this somehow make this schmuck semiliterate? I’m 50 years old and ran a 2:59 marathon last year does that qualify me to be president?
I suggest you stick to running.
Gotta re-elect Commiebarry.
Who could possibly vote for someone who uses the word “ain’t”?
To run for President the candidate should use grammar that is just above the level of what is spoken by the majority of the voters. I’m with Perry on this one.
I’m a paid member of the grammar-nazis, but I think this columnist just couldn’t think of anything interesting to write that day.
Nice! My last marathon was at 53. I racewalked about a 5:17.
Oh, so now nitwit newspaper columnists are the arbiters of what rhetorical devices politicians can deploy and still be “presidential”?
Enallage can be quite effective, and both Perry and Cain have deployed it nicely.
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Gee, it’s not like Cain, the new conservative savior, speaks perfect English.
Flintlock stands with the “ain’t” side!
Thank you for posting that link.
I just LOVED reading it.
Bump!
No, but it seems to empower a semiliterate response.
You know, now that Perry is hitting his stride, I’m pondering how the rats are going to deal with it in terms of crossing over in the primaries, insulating vulnerable demographics, etc.
They can’t really cross over for Romney, because he lead zero in most of the polls I’ve read. Same for Perry, because he’ll be roughly in the same polling position in 7 weeks. So who do they crossover for? Cain or Gingrich?
Also, Perry peeling off the white male democrat vote, ones that didn’t vote for Hillary OR zero last go around OR in the general. What are the going to do about that?
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Very welcome :-)
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