Sarah Palin “Jokes”; Just Calls Kettle Black
Posted by emmsolom on October 2, 2008
I have little to say regarding this clip other than that, in preparation for tonight’s debate, I sincerely hope Sarah Palin has spent her time at McCain’s Arizona compound coming up with a) jokes that don’t suggest that she’s ENTIRELY unaware of, well, everything and b) the ability to pander to the public outside of referencing a local football game.
Following Palin’s foot-in-mouth moment du jour, resident mascara abuser Katie Couric seized the opportunity to call Palin out on mocking the age of the opposing VP candidate when her own runningmate (an aside for anybody into political semantics: is McCain Palin’s runningmate, or is only Palin McCain’s runningmate? If so, what is McCain to Palin?) is seven years older than the senator. While it’s not much of a surprise to hear that Palin issued a sturdy denial, citing Biden’s many speeches as merely lending themselves to his vast experience, it was indeed fairly surprising to hear the tried-and-true Obama card of change played by the Alaskan, as well as references to her “new ideas.”
I also find it immensely entertaining (in an accurate way) that when transcribed by the HuffPo, Palin’s word of affirmation is spelled as “yah.”
Cheyenne said
I think it is very fitting that her words are transcribed, as they sound. She employs the use of down-home diction. She purposely does not talk like a Harvard Grad, so why should the media clean up her grammer?
emmsolom said
Actually, “yah” isn’t down-home diction (nor is it necessarily the product of someone who unequivocally did NOT attend Harvard). It’s the reflection of an accent and never in my life have I seen an accent transcribed so literally.
I would NEVER expect a news outlet to change the spelling of a word or phrase that IS actually “down-home”, like “heck of a” or “doggonnit,” in the hopes of “smartening” her up or making her more relatable to those of us who don’t speak like that. I assumed it would go without saying that changing someone’s words or verbal intentions is never, ever acceptable.
However, having led interviews for a national publication myself for two years and by proxy spoken with people with all sorts of accents, my editors never once sanctioned me to change the spelling of a basic word like “yeah” just because someone pronounced it differently.
I know you also work in journalism. Perhaps your experiences have differed from mine.