"Goomba38" > wrote in message
. ..
> Doug Kanter wrote:
>
>
>> There must be SOME words which upset you if mispronounced. How much do
>> you let your kids get away with in this regard? Or, do you believe the
>> bullshit about how "all languages evolve", which is really an excuse for
>> screwing them up?
>
> No, that's not my contention at all. I do recognize that accents do vary
> though? I believe Jimmy Carter, who IS a nuclear expert, even had his own
> way of pronouncing it. Get over it.

One persons sins don't validate another's. And, we're not discussing accents
here. Speech pathologists have a term for what Bush does to that word - I
don't recall what it is. But, it is not "regional color" or an accent, as
some people claim.

I have a theory: Bush has been instructed by his sitter (Karl Rove) to
continue mispronouncing the word as much as he wants. The reason is
disgusting. During his first campaign, he made a few comments about the
"intellectual elite" or some such nonsense. Mispronouncing the word endears
him to a certain segment of his supporters who claim to agree that education
is important, but don't have much of it themselves.

Meanwhile, I've heard interviews with foreign diplomats from countries like
Slovakia and China, and these people often have a command of the English
language that makes Bush look utterly pathetic. Something's seriously wrong
with that.