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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
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No-one ever said accent was the only issue in the growth of television but I suppose that it brought ordinary people into public view in a way that the cinema never did (only those strangely cheerful wartime newsreels).
Its funny how people seem willing to do (almost) anything to appear on television. We probably learnt more about the kind of words real people use and how they speak from "vox pop" television than any other form of media. Television drama (and other drama in its wake) became able to be more naturalistic as people became accustomed to seeing ordinary people on television.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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...ordinary people on televisionTrue. I think there are also pressures the other way too, though. For example, all news reporting is driven by a crude form of thesis and antithesis (without really deriving more than a cursory synthesis). This simplified application of classical forms must surely have an effect on the way people speak and think: if Bert says "Black" then Michelle starts thinking "White" rather than questioning if it shouldn't be grey (or even gray  ). People are invited to drive for an illusory 'bottom line', rather than exploring carefully. I am fairly sure this has also had a significant impact on a facet of speech which was remarked on a while back by shanks: the tendency to abbreviate, and sometimes speak in truncated or ellided sentence fragments.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>crude form of thesis and antithesis
I am finding this more and more irritating in the press to these days. Whatever anyone says, no matter how reasonable, someone who disagrees has to be dredged up to express an opinion in opposition. We are all aware of "sound bite poilitics", no thought worth expressing is allowed to take more than the time the average viewer takes to find the remote control. I'm sure that this has an impact on language. (It's still hard to see Bore and Gush making this formula work, I'm not suprised that people are staying away from voting in droves)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>people are staying away from voting in droves I have to pass along the following, slightly bowlderized, which I received in yesterday's email: > > Voter Alert!!! > > > > Due to an anticipated voter turn out much larger than > > originally expected, the polling facilities may not be > > able to handle the load all at once. > > > > Therefore, ______ and Independents are requested > > to vote on Tuesday, November 7, and ______ on > > Wednesday, November 8. > > > > Please pass this message along and help us to make sure > > that nobody gets left out. > > > > 2000 Presidential Election Commission my immediate thought was "geez, this sort of thing could get the election results thrown out if it was widely disseminated!" at the very least it would give the pol-lawyers something to do in the aftermath. 
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old hand
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old hand
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people are staying away from voting in drovesNow, wait a minute.. can you stay away from anything in droves?? How could you mentally picture such a state of affairs? would you assemble in droves just to stay away ?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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would you assemble in droves just to stay away?Sure! This morning, in fact: I just drove away! 
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member
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member
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people are staying away from voting in drovesI wish some of those bush fans could have stayed away in droves. how can self respecting country elect a man to be president who can say such things as these:  http://slate.msn.com/Features/bushisms/bushisms.aspmaybe i should start looking to move to canada
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
"The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned first-hand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas."—To a Slovak journalist as quoted by Knight Ridder News Service, June 22, 1999. Bush's meeting was with Janez Drnovsek, the prime minister of Slovenia.
Well I'd think carefully about moving to Slovenia!
I think you are safe here:
"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000
and as we have already noted:
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."—Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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Bushisms.. a real treasure trove!
He did say
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."—Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Bushisms.. a real treasure trove!And that is another important influence of TV - we all get to hear first-hand what rubbish someone spouts, rather than the smoothed-out version that printed reproduction would tend to entail. If you doubt the difference, try transcribing a telephone call one day by use of a dictation machine...
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