Didn't catch the debate the other night but CNN reports (here) an apparent morphological mishap by Hillary Clinton, in being grilled yet again about the Bosnia thing:"I'm embarrassed by it; I apologized for it," she said. "I said it was a mistake and it is something I hope you can look over."No, no, Senator Clinton, people have looked it over too much already. I'd prefer they'd overlook it. Like the recent thing on Language Log about analogical substitution of names (starting here), this is a kind of speech error I find myself making sometimes.
Of course, this was a tiny mishap. The handling of the debate was a high-speed wreck of a hazardous-chemical-laden train just outside a nuclear reactor melting down, from what I can tell from media reports.
Sigh.
8 comments:
Hooray for grammar nazis! I'm glad someone else out there understands the importance of syntax.
a high-speed wreck of a hazardous-chemical-laden train just outside a nuclear reactor melting down
That was just the first question. It got worse from there.
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Mr. Verb a grammar nazi? Right.
Whoa, am I misunderstanding an ironic comment? I just meant that she misspoke, and in a way that I sometimes misspeak -- I think we all make this kind of slip occasionally. Certainly the Senator realizes it was a glitch, right?
So, Wishydig (should I call you Wishy for short?), you mean I understated the disaster? Glad I don't have Tivo.
Ummm... grammar nazis have no corner on understanding the importance of syntax. Usually what they go on about has nothing to do with syntax, of course, but that's a different comment.
And why is it that you "look over" a scene from an "overlook", not "overlook" it? And why is "oversight" good but "an oversight" bad? ;-)
And why do we 'park' on 'driveways' but 'drive' on 'parkways'? And where exactly can you 'budge'?
Ach liebe it was a shameful display. The questions played into the typical topics that cheap media can sell easily. The organization and time management was horrible. Gibson and Stephanopoulos were useless. They pushed for answers when unnecessary -- like the whole deal about the possibility of a shared ticket. Really? You're pushing for a pledge that you know both will refuse in the same manner and for the same reasons?
It grew irrelevant and boring real quick.
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