Comments on: White House prepares ‘phonetic guide’ for Bush.

By: Bodhittsatva

Bodhittsatva — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:03:58 +0000

TRAY-TOR
Traitor
Used in a sentence:
George W. Bush is a traitor and will be held accountable in a court of law, afterwhich, as we have done before with other traitors, he will be hung.

By: shaun

shaun — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:23:06 +0000

ser -tay -ther – course

By: exwannabe

exwannabe — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:39:43 +0000

Sorry, despite my opinion of “the decider”, this story is a non-starter.

When you transliterate a forieng name into english you lose the real pronunciation. A phonetic spelling (or using the native language) is the only way to really do it right.

Of course, I doubt W can handle phonetics any better.

By: Buckie Boy

Buckie Boy — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:49:40 +0000

Nuclear – [New-cue-lear]
Decision maker – [de-side-er]
Pissed off Iraqis – [al-kay-da]
Mushroom cloud – [no-w-m-d]
911 – [fear]

New Bush version.

Buck Fush

By: Ret. Col. Jack Ripper

Ret. Col. Jack Ripper — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:34:09 +0000

Damien: “In about a half-dozen generations we went from George Washington to George Bush.

I donâ€™t believe in evolution anymore.”

I hear ya, but this is social evolution. Compare this pres to our last. This one is the product of generations of blue blood opulence. He has mediocre talent, mediocre intelligence, almost no curiosity and is infused with an astounding arrogance and cockiness despite the fact that he can’t even ride a fricking bicycle without face-planting.

The guy before him came up on the other side of the track. He had to work and scrape for everything he got. He’s extremely intelligent, full of energy and has a very quick wit.

As with European royalty, our corporate aristocracy will continue to get weaker as it becomes more and more like a modern corporate version of royalty.

By: SP Biloxi

SP Biloxi — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:19:46 +0000

Did Bush finally finish My Pet Goat book? And does he need his speechwriter to pronounce the big words in the book?

By: Jericho

Jericho — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:12:47 +0000

Who gave Bush the guide to go with the phonetic guide?

By: Damien

Damien — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:36:53 +0000

In about a half-dozen generations we went from George Washington to George Bush.

I don’t believe in evolution anymore.

By: MCMetal

MCMetal — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:07:40 +0000

The City of Chicago does this for Mayor Daley. Iâ€™m no apologist for either him or Bush, but I think this is no biggie,

Comment by AMcG773 â€” September 25, 2007 @ 4:42 pm

How many Mayors have foreign dignitaries from countries that are difficult to pronounce , visiting their respective city ?

A Mayor doesn’t generally tend to have to worry about that type of duty ; plus their constituency is nowhere near that of the president of the US , who is also representing 300,000,000 + Americans………

What an embarrassment Chimpy the Wonder Monkey is……

By: Nature Rules

Nature Rules — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:06:27 +0000

Nature Rules
I got that reference! But wasnâ€™t it Homer from the Simpsonâ€™s?

Thats what I thought, but wikipedia claims he just corrected the pronunciation, not the spelling. And then Peter â€˜correctsâ€™ the spelling in a family guy.

So now Iâ€™m all confused

Comment by Squegeeboo â€” September 25, 2007 @ 4:09 pm

Ah Ha. So Family Guy used the same gag! I do remember the Simpson’s gag. I think you have taken the confusion out of it – both are funny.

By: buzzbomb

buzzbomb — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:56:40 +0000

Caracas? Sarkozy? These are not complicated. What a flippin’ idiot. Reminds me of the SNL when they’re trying to prep chimp for a speech.

Can’t you pronounce the capital where your boogey man Chavez lives?

By: AMcG773

AMcG773 — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:42:07 +0000

The City of Chicago does this for Mayor Daley. I’m no apologist for either him or Bush, but I think this is no biggie,

By: tablogloid

tablogloid — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:19:05 +0000

memo to GWB: buh-Lo Mee

By: JosephW

JosephW — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:15:51 +0000

Actually, the “moor-EH-tain-ee-a” pronunciation isn’t too far off. The double-o, in many English dialects, can be pronounced like a long o (think how “poor” often sounds like “pore”). The stressed syllable IS off, however (it should come on the “tain”).
As to toasterhead’s comment at #7, the phonetic pronunciation of Kyrgyzstan IS correct (as long as the “gee” phonetic is pronounced with a “hard g”–as in “get”). Prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Republic’s name was spelled Kirghizstan. Even in the Cyrillic alphabet (at present, the official script), the country’s name uses the Ð³ in spelling ÐšÑ‹Ñ€Ð³Ñ‹Ð·ÑÑ‚Ð°Ð½–the Ð³ is a “hard g” sound.

By: AngryOne

AngryOne — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:14:31 +0000

Early in his presidency, George W. Bush was an enthusiastic proponent of “Hooked on Phonics” for educating America’s children. Now we know that his ringing endorsement came from personal experience. At the United Nations today, President Bush addressed the General Assembly using a crib sheet of phonetic pronunciations for those difficult country names and leaders sure to trip up any leader of the Free World.

For the details and more on the Four Types of Bush Gaffes, see:
“Bush Hooked on Phonics at the UN.”

By: Squegeeboo

Squegeeboo — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:09:46 +0000

Nature Rules
I got that reference! But wasnâ€™t it Homer from the Simpsonâ€™s?

Thats what I thought, but wikipedia claims he just corrected the pronunciation, not the spelling. And then Peter ‘corrects’ the spelling in a family guy.

So now I’m all confused

By: Starve-A-Bush_Feed-A-Beaver

Starve-A-Bush_Feed-A-Beaver — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:07:43 +0000

I also recall the time Bush called the Prime Minister of Spain a “goose” in Spanish. He called him Prime Minister Ansar (a word for “goose” in Spanish) instead of his actual name: Aznar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._presidential_faux-pas,_gaffes,_and_unfortunate_incidents

By: pbg

pbg — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:57:36 +0000

Jrst remember–never send him to Wales.

By: Nature Rules

Nature Rules — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:57:18 +0000

Ha, nice. But I was referencing a family guy episode:
â€œHaha! You said nuclear; itâ€™s nucular, dummy; the â€™sâ€™ is silent.â€

Comment by Squegeeboo â€” September 25, 2007 @ 3:45 pm

I got that reference! But wasn’t it Homer from the Simpson’s?

By: Bobwurst

Bobwurst — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:56:29 +0000

So, bush attends his first G-8 summit, and on the second day, he turns to Tony Blair and says “Why are the French even here? They don’t understand economics, hell, they don’t even have a word for entrepuenuer.”