Friday, May 31, 2013

Which way did he go?

The headline read....


Family Concerned After John McCain Wanders Into Syria

Washington--Members of Sen. John McCain's family expressed deep concern Tuesday after receiving word that the aging legislator had wandered into Syria.  

Ha!  Poor old John can't buy a break.  That was reported, of course, in The Onion, a parody newspaper.  Unfortunately I'm afraid there might be more than a little truth to this one.  There are a lot of those guys in Washington (or Warshington if you're from Boston), of both parties, who are doing things I just find bizarre.  

Still, he's lived an amazing life and I sincerely wish him well.

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I was watching Good Morning America earlier and noticed Robin Roberts interviewing Will Smith.  When she's on camera she normally speaks "unaccented TV" for lack of a better term.  But when she was interviewing Will she started speaking "inner-city street".  Then some rapper was on, and listening to him (I tried unsuccessfully to tune him out) I assumed he was black.  Then I saw him...some white guy named Pit Bull.  (Really?  Who names their kid "Pit"?)  I guess you just never know these days.

K said she lapses into and out of other dialects, too.  She's a corporate recruiter and daily talks to people from all over the country.  She said she subconsciously slips into Cajun when she's talking to people from Louisiana, deep south drawl when appropriate, etc.

I find myself doing the same.  When speaking with a sophisticated potential client my speech is The King's English, but when talking to one of my blue-collar subs it's "Hey, how y'all doin'?  Sup?"

Do you do that, too?  Is it intentional or subconscious?

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My trusty (until now) chariot is in the shop getting its air conditioner fixed.  I know.....a car in Texas without working air conditioning is just scrap metal.  We're down to just one car, and I'm having to take K to work and pick her up and plan my day around my chauffeur duties.  

At one time a while back K and I discussed me retiring for real (not semi retiring) and just having one car.  Now I truly like living lean, but after experiencing a one car household, even for just a day, I'm afraid that might be just a bit too lean.

Speaking of cars, tomorrow is Cars and Coffee, weather permitting.  We need the rain, but please God, let it come after noon, OK?  :)

Have a great weekend everyone.

S


7 comments:

  1. You could always get a bike. Or a scooter! That would be cool.

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  2. This requires a triple comment.
    1. John McCain, no matter what he says or does, love him or hate him, if I am around, YOU WILL RESPECT HIM!! And I know that you do.

    2. I think I slip into different speak sometimes as well. Black interviewers almost ALL do this including Oprah...Robin Quivers on the Howard Stern show NEVER is guilty of dialog slippage. I love her and the Stern show...don't tell anyone or I will lose some readers.

    3. Love the Cars and coffee...lots of old foreign sports cars PLEASE!! thanks.

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  3. My mom used to do the accent switching all the time. She spent some time in Pennsylvania visiting her brother & she sounded just like a Yankee when she came home to NC. It was pretty disconcerting. Mike sounds a LOT more southern when we go back to NC - we cross the border & he turns into Shelby Foote :)

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  4. I feel your pain on the A/C! Still haven't gotten mine fixed on the Jag and boy, the weather's getting hot again. After two years I just need to bow up and do it. I think tomorrow morning will be fine though for a top down spin. If I can get it washed this evening I'll be there and hope to see you.

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  5. I think the "slipping in and out of accents" is normal human behavior. We appear open and friendly to people when we mimic their movement, speech pattern, and behavior. Since English is my second language, I speak very "unaccented" English, but even I started saying "y'all" when we moved from New York to South Carolina.

    It's the same in German, though. Dialects in Germany are quite extreme; someone from Berlin would not understand what I was saying if I spoke my native Bavarian dialect. So among family and friends from my hometown, I spoke the dialect. In school and among strangers, I spoke the "proper" German (something my parents had to teach us kids before we started school...it was almost like learning another language).

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  6. I saw that Onion article and laughed out loud. Here in Arizona, McCain is not all that adored by the masses. If he chooses to run again (God forbid) I suspect he might be beaten.

    When I lived in Texas briefly back in the 1990's I remember telling a woman whose tourist motel I was checking out "Sorry, I'm not from around here." She responded, "Yep, I could tell you was a Yankee!" But I drop into the speech mannerisms of locals, too. I started saying "Y'all" a lot in Texas.

    By the way, I hope you don't get the dangerous storms ala Oklahoma though your forecast doesn't look too promising.

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  7. I always enjoy your miscellany.

    Much to admire about McCaine, but yeah, he seems to be getting a little odd in his old age.

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