OK Texans...does * speak Texan?

[gator_in_Ontario]

This editorial is a trip. I know a few Texans, and none of them speak like *...

...Fund said that Bush is not dumb, just inarticulate, while O'Donnell suggested that Bush is out of his league. They both may be right, but I'd like to submit an alternative explanation for Bush's linguistic deficit......
.....My theory dovetails with something one of his most acerbic critics, columnist Molly Ivins, once wrote: "George W. Bush sounds like English is his second language." That's because it's true. "Washington English" is a second language for Bush; "Texas English" is his first.

what????
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/orl-parker2306aug23,0,1359299.column

[AndyA]

1. They're all just making excuses for Bush. The truth is

he's a rude, crude, arrogant little man. He doesn't have enough respect for others to even bother trying to put together logical sentences, much less pronounce words correctly, or use words in the context they are intended.

Bush is offended by the fact that he even has to pretend to have accountability, much less answer questions about his actions to the press. Yes, Bush is inarticulate and incurious. Two abilities that should be mandatory requirements for a President. The ability to communicate and the desire to learn are of utmost importance in today's world. Bush possesses neither, nor does he feign any pretense at mastering them.

A worse President would be hard to find.

[Avalux]

2. Bullshit.

Bush didn't move to Texas til high school, then left again to attend Yale and Harvard. He did move back to Texas after that. His "accent" was contrived by Rove as part of the cowboy persona they created when he ran for Governor; it's as phony as a three dollar bill.

Bush isn't educated; he doesn't have a very good command of the English language - I agree with Fund (yikes!).

[acmejack]

6. OMG, sparosnare! I think you can be treated if you rush to the ER!

There's not a moment to lose though! I think they treat it like a snake bite from a lowdown sidewinder, after all isn't that what Fund is? Hope you recover real soon:)

[Avalux]

13. lol!

Now that I've had some coffee, I think I'll be OK - whew - that was scary! :rofl:

[LA lady]

8. He was two

Actually Bush was two. My ex-husband is from Texas and sounds JUST LIKE HIM. That's another reason he grates on my nerves. They actually knew each other in college.

[Yupster]

17. Bush moved to Texas when he was about three

He grew up in three houses not two miles from me.

He went to public schools in Midland Texas from kindergarten until high school when he was sent back east to some finishing school. Get that? This is the refined George Bush we're seeing.

One of my co-workers says Bush was his T-ball coach.

[Avalux]

19. Hmmm.....for some reason I thought Bush didn't grow up here.

Maybe because of the way he talks? lol. I think what we see is his laziness and selfishness, he just doesn't give a shit whether he can speak properly or not. I pity any teacher that had him in their class.

Bush was his T-ball coach?? :spray:

[Yupster]

27. Bush was his T-Ball coach?

That's what he tells everyone.

Odd that he only has the two daughters, but then again, girls play T-Ball here quite a bit and you don't have to have a kid playing to coach either. He obviously does love baseball, so not that surprising.

I also know lots of people who were in Bush's Sunday School class at First Methodist. He taught his adult class for years.

The deal about him not being a real Texan is personally insulting to me as I was born in Brooklyn and came here after college at age 21.

I consider myself a Texan. I'm sure not a New Yorker having left the city 30 years ago. So if Bush came to Texas when he's three and is not a "Real Texan," then that means I'm not a real Texan either. Well F$%k that.

[acmejack]

3. He speaks gibberish!

Texans still speak a form of English. Lyndon Johnson spoke Texan, Lloyd Doggett speaks Texan, Sheila Lee Jackson speaks Texan, Dan Rather speaks Texan, Ann Richards, Bill Moyers, even me, we all speak Texan. Bush is merely incoherent.

[CTyankee]

36. DON"T EVEN GET ME STARTED!

As a 3rd generation Texan, I get really pissed when I have to listen to that idiot pose as a Texan. I "know" a Texas accent when I hear one. Hell, I can even tell an East TExas accent from a West Texan accent. I grew up in Dallas, so put me in the East Texas accent category.

This is just Bush phony persona hyping. Phony ranch, phony Texas accent, all as phony as that Thanksgiving turkey he "served" the troops!

[whistle]

4. * is all hat and no cattle

[Kutjara]

5. Well, if Curious George doesn't...

...known how to speak 'Washington English', then he certainly isn't suitable material to be President.

The article, however, is a puff piece, which intends to portray Bush in a far more positive light than he merits. Lies and murder are the same in any dialect and, as ever, Chimpy's actions speak far louder than his words.

[WolverineDG]

7. 2nd generation Texan here

born & raised in Texas, lived here all my life. No, shrubbie does not speak Texan. He can't speak Spanish with a Texas accent either.

dg

[Yupster]

18. Is there a Texan to speak?

I live in west Texas and we out here speak an entirely different language than the est Texans do. To us they sound like they're from Mississippi. To them we probably sound like we're from Wyoming.

Then there's the Natchitoches area near Louisiana that can be completely different again. Then go to Eagle Pass and see what kind of accent Texans use there. It's nothing like west Texas.

[movie_girl99]

9. no...my entire family is from Texas and none of them

speak as poorly as he does. Not even the ones with little education.

[warrior1]

10. He has

an unnatural Texan accent. It's force most of the time and I'll bet he picks up some of the inflection from being around true Texans.

[movie_girl99]

14. i do agree with that

i don't have a drawl at all but if i'm around my older aunts and uncles much who do, it's easy to pick up. It is possible to have a Texas drawl and not sound like a moron

[July]

26. When he speaks to the U.N., his "Texas accent" disappears.

And his ability to "speak Spanish" is fictitious, too.

[Ian_rd]

11. No. He speaks Idiot.

[sam sarrha]

12. Dr Brooks has done a study on his speech, same as a wife beater, LINK>

she says he uses the same language as wife beaters..

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/weekly_2003/bush_language_power_fear.html

google; 'renana brooks and bush' ..and get some really insightful information.

click on the blue link in my signature

[prole_for_peace]

15. we DO NOT talk like that!

he speaks like he THINKS texans should sound like. he needs to quit watching bad westerns and listen to the way educated people speak.

edited to add: he is an ass.

[kskiska]

16. How come no one else in his family sounds like him?

Jeb and his other brothers and sister were actually born in Texas.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. His accent is as real as he is a cowboy

A cowboy that's afraid of horses that is.

Texas is large and the dialect does vary from one side of the state to the other. However, I've never encountered a single Texan with an accent similar to bush. If one were to pay close attention to his speeches since his initial run for Texas gov until now, they'd notice how much more pronounced his "accent" is now vs then. This would seem odd since he's less exposed to others who speak with a Texas accent since he's been in the WH.

Personally, I think it's all part of the persona they created in their attempt to cover what an ass he really is.

[Igel]

21. I knew a woman who was raised in Penn., NJ, and

Oregon. Father was from Oklahoma, mother from Illinois.

She spoke fairly standard English, but it wasn't actually standard. It had twinges of Oklahoma in her vowels, some idioms and words from Illinois, and some grammar found no place else but E. Pennsylvania. Her inflexion was mostly Illinoian, since she was mostly raised by her mother.

Hers was a mixed dialect. * probably doesn't speak a Texan dialect, since he lived in at least two dialect areas and was widely exposed to standard English. But he apparently views his identity as primarily Texan. So, in solidarity, he'd try to adopt Texan norms, without understanding that there are competing norms for Texas, and not understanding how they were used.

I've also known other people that tried to overcome their idiodialect--not people that learned a second dialect, but who tried to imitate it. Usually a disaster of hypercorrection and resumptive speech. But most do a better job than *.

[leftofthedial]

22. idiot pampered spoiled rich asshole is his first language

hampered by a big dose of fetal alcohol syndrome

plus, he was raised by a pair of the same.

Molly Ivins speaks Texan. Big difference.

[Ishoutandscream2]

23. No! Hell no!!

All hat, no cattle.

[Javaman]

24. Dang, how many times does this need to be stated, he's not from Texas...

The fucking idiot* was born in CT, land of joe assless LIEberman. Birds of a feather...

[Yupster]

28. Born in Connecticutt

moved to Texas at age three and has lived there his entre life other than times away at school or as President.

So that makes him a Connecticutt Yankee?

I was born in Brooklyn and moved to another borough at age two and moved to Texas at age 21 and have been in Texas ever since.

I'm a Texan. Am I not? I'm certainly not a Brooklynite? Not having moved away at age two.

[Javaman]

34. Sadly, regardless of how long you live here, you will be

regarded that way.

Trust me, I'm originally from NY as well. LOL

I love Texas and the bottom line is, anyone that continues to associate that fool* as being a Texan should be run out of town on a rail. ;)

He is born and bred of a CT privileged family. Texas is just a place card for him to hang his fake accent.

Like yourself, I may not have been born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could. :)

[CTyankee]

37. Hmm, as you can tell I'm a CT Yankee but I was born in Texas

I lived in Dallas until I went away to college. I wanted to get out of Texas but my family was pretty horrified. You are not supposed to leave Texas, you know. I have a cousin that is still mad at me for leaving.

Because I went into acting, I had to train my speech and get rid of my accent. Now I have no idea what I speak but I think it is generally East Coast nonspecific American English. I work for LIteracy Volunteers and I notice the difference in the English my volunteer tutors use when teaching their ESOL students. The students of course try hard to speak English the way their tutors do.

[WI_DEM]

25. I'm not a Texican but to me he talks turkey not texan

[Marymarg]

29. Regional accents

What bothers me about Bush's on-again/off-again accent is this: I have always thought that people who desire to change their native speaking voice try to lose their regional accents, rather than to acquire one.

I was raised in a tiny West Texas farm community. Bush's accent reminds me of what I heard out of the mouths of the more ignorant, uneducated farmers around. Even there, it was not cool to sound like an ignorant hick.

[ceile]

30. I don't speak like that,

my family doesn't speak that way nor does anyone I know. He's an idiot carpetbagger.

[TheFriedPiper]

31. He sounds like a male cheerleader from Connecticut pretending

to be a Texas cowboy (why anyone would want to even pretend to be from Texas, I'll never know)


Mostly he just sounds like an idiot.

[OregonDem]

32. Texas is a rather large state could there possibly be

different accents found there. I find it hard to believe that all Texans speak the same way.

[lies and propaganda]

33. actually, Connecticut English is his first lang.

He just thought he could get in good with the morans by being dimwit. Poor Texans just fell for it though.

[Blue_In_AK]

35. My husband is a Texan

(Houston and East Texas), and he sounds NOTHING like **, although his accent is strong (which he denies :rofl:).