President Obama taking heat over mispronunciation of "Corpsmen."

[BennyD]

While speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama mispronounced the word "Corpsman" as "corpse-man."

The right-wing is already making fun of this. Why would people expect others who didn't serve in the Military to necessarily be familiar with every pronunciation of their lingo? Give it a rest.

Link to article with Video

[livetohike]

1. That's all they got?

How about the thousands of mispronounciations and made up words Dubya said?

[Bolo Boffin]

2. Is that all they've got?

Meanwhile Republican Senator Richard Shelby throws a temper tantrum over his earmarks. Tempest in a teapot, all of these clowns.

[leftstreet]

3. We don't care. We're busy trying to put food on our families n/t

[Jamastiene]

7. And worrying Is Our Children Learning? n/t

[KansDem]

13. And making the pie higher!

Make the Pie Higher
by George W. Bush

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen
And uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet
Become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish
Can coexist.

Families is where our nation finds hope
Where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
Make the pie higher!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/piehigher.asp

...kinda brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

[BennyD]

21. "is our children learning" What kind of grammar is that? n/t

[johnnie]

26. That's a bush grammar

He is a genus.

[Jamastiene]

48. Bush grammar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M17RvxsZHc

[scheming daemons]

51. The grammar your hero, Dubya, uses...

Your OP isn't fooling me.

[timeforpeace]

4. We did that to Bush all the time, he survived it.

[Jamastiene]

5. Geez, I complain when the man does something I don't agree with, but

this is just stupid. At least he can pronounce about a million other words right.

How do you pronounce corpsman anyhow?

[MercutioATC]

9. "coremun"

Granted, I'm not using the fancy pronunciation symbols, but that's how it's pronounced.

[CTyankee]

19. I seem to recall he said this before and it came out later that his pronunication,

while not the usual, has some historical acceptance in the past. I can't remember the exact word but it sounded similar to "corpseman."

Does anyone know what I am talking about???

[fishwax]

28. You might be thinking of his pronunciation of Pakistan?

I think there was some kerfuffle during the campaign from people who thought the fact that he actually pronounced it correctly (with an /ah/ sound instead of a short a sound) as evidence that he hated America.

I don't remember an issue with corpsman before, but I could have missed something :)

[gmoney]

81. "That's Hedley"

I mean "Korman"

[Jack_Dawson]

52. It's not good

Corpsman? Seriously? They're gonna have a field day with this. Thank God it's on bury-the-bad-news-day.

:eyes:

:beer:

[MercutioATC]

6. If Bush had said "corpse-man", DU would be all over it.

I'm sure Obama knows how to pronounce "corpsman". It was a slip.

...it was nonetheless a funny slip...and one that's fair game for the opposition.

[malaise]

8. Agreed n/t

[BennyD]

16. I don't think it was a "slip." He did mispronounce it twice. n/t

[me b zola]

68. Benny, Benny, Benny

:freak:

[petronius]

27. Actually, "corpse-man" is the proper pronunciation

for "Bush." Or at least it should be...

[muffin1]

36. That's because nearly every other word that came out

of shrub's gravy hole was mispronounced. It was unbelievable that someone that stupid was actually in charge.
Now that we have a bona fide brilliant President, they are picking on ONE WORD.

Not going to get worked up over this particular "story", just saying there is a difference.

[Crabby Appleton]

46. Yep nt

[razorman]

77. I recall when Dan Quayle seemed to not know how "potato" was spelled.

The public over-reaction was silly. Personally, I would give both DQ and President Obama some slack on such things. We are all guilty of mispronunciation and misspellings. Besides, everyone knows it is really spelled "tater".

[babylonsister]

10. omg, after idiot son, this is all they got? hahaha, sucks to be them. nt

[Xipe Totec]

11. The Press Corpse is having a field day with it... n/t

[slackmaster]

57. I blame the Army Corpse of Engineers for the demise of New Orleans

They screwed up the hydrology thing for decades.

[CakeGrrl]

12. Well, he should really know that "Corps" is pronounced "core" and probably does,

so I'll just write it off to being in the flow of a speech, but it should be well-known by now that the RW doesn't let a little rank hypocrisy stop them when trying to ridicule the opposition.

[krispos42]

69. I didn't realize that "facade" was pronounced "fassad" until my mid-teens.

It was a word I read but never had a reason to speak, so I mentally pronounced it as "fakaid". :dunce:

I didn't realize that "chic" was pronounced "sheik" until about 3 years ago. :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

[foxfeet]

14. One word: nukyular.

How soon they forget.

[BennyD]

17. hahaha That's an old Jimmah Carta word. haha n/t

[Political Heretic]

15. Oh please.

:eyes:

[alp227]

18. And the right-wingers had no problem with draft-dodger Shrub saying "nucular"

And other silly stuff like:
- "Is our children learning?"
- "Childrens do learn"
(source for these quotes: http://www.spike.com/video/is-our-children/3096176)

[Turbineguy]

20. It's OK to hold Obama to a higher standard

than Bush.

After all, he is of a higher standard.

Thanks to the wingnuts for noticing.

[spanone]

22. impeach the bastard

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :sarcasm:

[Romulox]

23. I have to say, a Harvard education isn't quite as excellent as it's made out to be...

Remember when the President (onetime President of the Harvard Law Review) revealed that he didn't know the meaning of the word "decriminalize"? :wtf:

[ecstatic]

44. Whatever. It has nothing to do with education or lack of it. Worse case- it's just a word he's never

spoken out loud before but I'm guessing it was just a brain fart due to fatigue. At the end of the day, the President is still smarter than most people in this country. A simple mistake isn't going to change that.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. I would have that the term "Corpsman" would be familiar to any member of Congress...

but especially to the President. Surely someone watches him practice his speeches.

[Romulox]

25. Or perhaps the Commander in Chief of all military forces...ya think? nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

33. Yes that would be the cause of "especially the President".

[Romulox]

35. Amplification, not a disagreement.

I see where that might be ambiguous.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

55. Just a clarification. My apologies.

:toast:

[fishwax]

29. yeah, that's a mistake he oughtn't've made, but it pales in

comparison to dubya's grasp of the language. I'm sure right-wing blowhards will make a huge deal of it, though ...

[muffin1]

30. One word: nu-cu-ler n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

34. I think that's spelled with a "k"!

[muffin1]

39. Oops!

My bad!:P

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

31. Right, right, right.

We all get it: Bush was allowed to be a dumbass because he was a cowboy. Obama isn't allowed to be stupid because he's a black liberal.

Really, Bush couldn't even pronounce "nuclear" (or mispronounced it on purpose - who knows?) and could barely complete a sentence without a gaffe, but Obama has to be perfect.

[Romulox]

38. I'd forgive the President's ignorance of matters martial COMPLETELY if he weren't playing at war

with the lives of those men whose job he can't even pronounce...

[superduperfarleft]

32. Most transparent OP of the year!

Congratulations.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

40. It's only February.

:* !

[superduperfarleft]

45. That's how proud I am of the OP. n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

47. I don't blame you.

:hi:

[Quantess]

37. Who cares? This is such a non-issue, and Obama is an excellent orator in general.

Bush could barely speak, and so it was very easy to make fun of his mispronunciations and bad grammar. And yet, Bush still managed to keep a following of loyal fans.

So, Obama mispronounced something. Big fucking deal.

[Forkboy]

41. I pity the people who think is important.

[Bluebear]

42. He should take heat for speaking at that odious event, not for pronunciations.

[jgraz]

49. + a brazillion

[fishwax]

53. .

:thumbsup:

[t0dd]

61. ..

:applause: Got that right.

[louis-t]

43. Repugs have short memories.

(cough, 'nukular', cough)

[Arkana]

50. It happens.

At least he doesn't say "nucular" or "misunderestimate".

Or mangle the English language horribly.

[MTeddy]

54. corpsman needed for this snowball fighting

sometimes I feel like my vote for Pres. Obama was a waste of
time. I got behind him because he said that he wanted to
change the tone....then, when he makes a simple gaff with the
word 'corpsman'......those on the right pile on. Like the
President said....let's get over it!!! I remember when my
friends were making fun of Bush for some of his
mispronunciations......and the media piled on......so how does
that help our President in the end.......once the weak minded
minions from 'both' sides stop with the condescending sneering
at the 'other side'.....then we can get behind our guy.......I
would like to see our side show the class and understanding
FIRST.......and show the rest of America that we can lead by
example!

[Quantess]

65. Welcome to DU!

Please post more often. :hi:

[slackmaster]

56. I'm more of a leg man myself

But if someone is into corpses, I guess that's OK as long as all parties are consenting.

[Codeine]

58. That's really not military lingo.

Any educated, intelligent individual should know how to say that properly.

That said, not even vaguely an issue.

[Therellas]

59. the only corpseman here are us soldiers.

we all know that.

[greenbriar]

60. OBGYN"S can't practice their love with women

is our children learning

NEUKLear...


hum

[undeterred]

62. They're still feeling dumb because they didn't know what a Bolshevik plot was.

[Initech]

63. In all fairness. *I* would've pronounced the word as corpse-man.

:crazy:

[EFerrari]

76. This happens all the time to people who read a lot.

We've never heard a word spoken or only a few times, and we don't remember the pronunciation as quickly as we speak.

[Gold Metal Flake]

64. Peance freance

They misunderestimate him.

[bigwillq]

66. A repuke friend on my Facebook

made several status updates about this. :eyes: Reeks of desperation.

[me b zola]

67. Benny, Benny, Benny

Whenever I read one of your posts I always think of the weaselly coward Benny from the movie The Mummy.

[TexasObserver]

70. That is a bad snafu for the president.

It reveals that it is a word he's likely never spoken or heard spoken, which means he really doesn't understand the person it describes.

[slackmaster]

71. I see an upside to it

If he ever utters the word "corpsman" again, he WILL pronounce it correctly.

I'm sure he's embarrassed about it and will learn from the experience.

[tekisui]

72. This dictionary says corpse-men.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/corpsman#

[EFerrari]

73. It actually doesn't. The pronounciation is to the right of

what you're looking at -- which is where the syllables divide.

[tekisui]

74. I know, but it 'says' it that way with the audio.

[EFerrari]

75. Oh, I see Was it Obama?

:hi:

[kudzu22]

78. OK, that's one

It's a glaring one, and he should know how to pronounce the military ranks, being CIC of the entire military. Let me know when he gets somewhere near Bush's total, and then we'll talk.

[Beacool]

79. Well, it was pretty startling...........

He also kept repeating it, which made it even funnier.

:D

[gmoney]

82. My grandfather told the story about a speech a guy made...

that had been written for him, and it repeatedly had the phrase "We must not be misled."

Well, the guy very passionately gave this speech, but said that "We must not be myzeld" over and over again. I can see how that would be ridiculed.

[Beacool]

83. That must have been funny.

:7

[sylvi]

80. I would think that a president verbalizes

I would think that a president verbalizes millions of words, both orally and in writing, in the span of a year. What are the chances that each and every one of them are going to come out perfectly?

He's only human, after all.

I consider myself fairly well-spoken, but if I was under the same microscope as the president, I'd hate to see all the grammatical errors someone could tot up over a span of time.