So KO opens up talking about why a Swedish man said "small" people instead of "little"

[Uzybone]

Why do we have to deal with this rubbish?

Can anyone really say this is serious?

[Cha]

1. How about hardworking people? Was it a

language thing?

[babylonsister]

8. I took it to be a language thing; I'm sure Mr. Sweden didn't

want to intentionally piss off small people.

[Cha]

15. :) Right when I first read

that in LBN..I replied to a poster.."from a small person". Tiny. No, not tiny.:)

[thereismore]

16. How about people? Just people. nt

[Cha]

20. People's good.

[KansasVoter]

2. So you speak Swedish?

[Uzybone]

27. No I don't speak Swedish

but the guy is a Swede speaking English. Is him saying "We care about the small people" really worthy of discussion? Its an obvious mistranslation.

[LaydeeBug]

3. "little people" would have been JUST as offensive. nt

[Cant trust em]

5. What do midgets have to do with the oil spill? nt

[Teaser]

23. only if you know the phrase is offensive

I doubt they teach that in Intro to English in Sweden.

[otohara]

28. Exactly

damn, it's sad to see this "little" mishap blown out of proportion.

[LaydeeBug]

34. oh bullshit. Really. nt

[CTyankee]

33. I think he was aiming for "the little guy." But coming from BP any such

talk is obnoxious. Better to keep mouths shut because every time these guys start talking they end up in worse shape than before...

[LaydeeBug]

35. +10,000

[Cant trust em]

4. Man. We sure do have some hard hitting journalists out there.

Big implications with this tough piece.

:eyes:

[elehhhhna]

6. Stupid as Hannity. Different but the same.

O'mans a hack, imo.

[vaberella]

7. What I thought was petty is this BS about when the speech should have been done.

The speech resonated with the American public even if not the American pundit.

[babylonsister]

11. He's trying to avoid the elephant in the room-his performance

last night. imo.

That's fine with me...moving on...but the topics chosen seem, well, 'small'. :P

[vaberella]

21. hahaha...very silly. I agree with you. Although I must say I liked Bill O. n/t

[babylonsister]

25. Good on KO for repeating his tweet. nt

[jenmito]

13. Yeah-he said Obama should've given the speech AFTER meeting with BP so

he could say SOMETHING (as if he didn't say anything last night). He STILL doesn't see that the majority of us regular people LIKED the speech-probably because no insta-polls were taken or shown after the speech.

[vaberella]

22. Exactly. And can't you see Fox on that. Obama used his success as a photo-op.

Ugh... and I get the feeling they would have agreed with that idea as well.

[Fearless]

29. I don't know what American people you hear from, but I'm hearing the opposite...

Just saying.

[Phx_Dem]

9. If that's all he found to criticize tonight, there must not be much else.

What an ass.

[jenmito]

10. He even declared that the quote might just overshadow Obama's speech yesterday.

Well, YEAH, if people like Keith COVER it as more important than Obama's speech! :eyes:

[Cha]

17. Wow! This guy had

foresite.

[vaberella]

19. He did say that. I ignored it.

I didn't know if it was a dig or he misspoke.

[flpoljunkie]

12. I'd say that was rather 'small' of Olbermann to try and make something of this unintended slight.

[CTyankee]

14. As an ESl tutor, I would advise "little people" only if the speaker knew his/her audience!

Meanings in language can be VERY serious. I have students who are small businessmen and need to be very careful in how they talk to their American customers. I advise them on how to speak carefully and respectfully to them. For instance, I advise them NOT to say to their customers "Sit down" but instead say "Have a seat."

Every class I have with these students I stress what they need to know to do business with the American consumer. They are very apprecitative.

Note: I am a volunteer with Literacy Volunteers in America. It is a good cause. If you have the time, please sign up to help...

[Sanity Claws]

18. Maybe the Swede meant wee folks

like sprites, brownies, leprechauns, gnomes and nymphs.

[Aramchek]

24. some don't like to admit when they're wrong.

if he says Obama achieved a major victory today, then Keith was wrong yesterday.
so he instead focuses on a foreigner's mistranslation.

swallow your pride, Keith
you will not die
it is not poison

[Phx_Dem]

26. Keith is just small enough to parse words delivered by someone

who is from a foreign-speaking country.

If Keith wasn't so small-minded, he might have considered that maybe in Sweden small/little are the same?

[Berry Cool]

32. Why is either one good? n/t

[Phx_Dem]

37. It was pretty clear to me he was talking about what Tweety always calls

"regular" people. He didn't sound arrogant. He sounded like he was trying to get a heartfelt apology.

This is much ado about victimhood.

[Clio the Leo]

30. Olbermann was saved by $20 billion today.....

.... based on a previous thread, sounds like Keith got some blow back from his faithful viewers over what he said last night ... what happened today made all of that an (almost) non issue.

[LiberalFighter]

31. No comparison to Bush when he couldn't talk straight even though English is his first

and only language.

[meow mix]

36. i beleive the term he was searching for was "common"

id guess that common in his mind, is less than the superiour awsomeness of wealthy folks. so he actually used the correct term