While I wouldn't attempt such flights of pronunciation fancy as an elected official speaking on TV, I feel an unusual twinge of sympathy for Bachmann because I'm very much one of those people who learned more-than-basic English vocabulary predominately from books rather than from hearing people speak it. I've never liked getting news from TV or radio (I used to read my dad's dead-tree subscriptions to newsmagazines and newspapers before I had access to online news), so while I saw the word "chutzpah" very frequently, I probably didn't know how to pronounce it until I went to college, where my exposure to educated people and Jews increased dramatically (and probably non-coincidentally).
I totally relate. I was always a readerly kid and so I had an expansive vocabulary that sometimes made me look smart but just as frequently the opposite because context and pronunciation were shaky. Sometimes I'd see a cool world and I'd be so excited to use it that I'd just ram it into a sentence the first chance I had. One October I asked my parents when we'd be putting up our Halloween "decker" (decor).
Also, if your 8 year old son is asking questions about the decor, there's a non-trivial chance he's a homosexual!
That's not choot-spa. That's just being a sk-muck.
ReplyDeleteWhile I wouldn't attempt such flights of pronunciation fancy as an elected official speaking on TV, I feel an unusual twinge of sympathy for Bachmann because I'm very much one of those people who learned more-than-basic English vocabulary predominately from books rather than from hearing people speak it. I've never liked getting news from TV or radio (I used to read my dad's dead-tree subscriptions to newsmagazines and newspapers before I had access to online news), so while I saw the word "chutzpah" very frequently, I probably didn't know how to pronounce it until I went to college, where my exposure to educated people and Jews increased dramatically (and probably non-coincidentally).
ReplyDelete@PG
ReplyDeleteI totally relate. I was always a readerly kid and so I had an expansive vocabulary that sometimes made me look smart but just as frequently the opposite because context and pronunciation were shaky. Sometimes I'd see a cool world and I'd be so excited to use it that I'd just ram it into a sentence the first chance I had. One October I asked my parents when we'd be putting up our Halloween "decker" (decor).
Also, if your 8 year old son is asking questions about the decor, there's a non-trivial chance he's a homosexual!