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Sarah Palin speaks like a high-school drop out, dropping the "Gs" from her ING's.
I think it's genuine, not affectation. But it is also something highly noticeable. It may actually be attractive to some of those Hillary voters-- the blue collar, over 50 folks. And it's surely attractive to those southern core, redneck voters.
But what's fascinating is we are starting to see Fox news anchors and right wing talking heads and pundits dropping their Gs as well.
Now, why would well spoken professionals start dropping their Gs? I speculate that by dropping down to her linguistic level, they are normalizing what would otherwise, for them, be an embarassing lapse. By talkin' like her, they turn a use of language that usually connotes lack of education and polish as something more acceptable.
The thing is, this is another great example of how the right has sold out. Just propagating the lie that she is a competent, ready to be president candidate is a despicable lie and a sellout of America-- a huge one. But now, they are also selling out the American language. America has millions who speak like Sarah and that's fine. I drop my 'Gs' occasionally. But when you speak in public, you use your best English, except for ocassional emphases.
Adopting Palin's de-G-ed "speakin'" is an assault on the language, just like perpetrating the lie that she's ready to lead is an assault on the future of the nation.
But I digress. I'm talking about Sarah's ability to speak... or not.
It's one more reason I wince and cringe when thinking of her engaging in discussions with leaders of foreign states. Her perky, folksy talk won't mean much when dealing with serious international issues.
Even if, as it appears, the MCain Palin ticket is on its way into the trashcan of defeat, I fear that her injection into the media mainstream may have lasting untoward effects upon American English.
I guess we should call it the Sarah Palinization of the nation, or at least, the nation's tongue. Hmm Palintongue. Nah. Make it Palintonue.
