Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on May 14, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
People pick up odd pronunciations depending on where they live. Bostonians drop their Rs, Upper Midwesterners turn ‘th’ into ‘d’, and Californians just add “dude” to everything … er … dude. Usually, though, people stick to one pronunciation, which makes President Obama somewhat of a curiosity. Take a listen to this recent press conference with Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan — or is it Pockeeston?
Let me help you out. Note that Obama gives a Middle Eastern inflection for every single instance and variation of “Pakistan”, but reverts back to American English for “Afghanistan”:
Can we get one or the other? Either go with “Off-gon-ee-ston” with “Pock-ee-ston”, or just say “Pakistan” and “Afghanistan” the way we say it here. The latter might not be worldly enough for Obama, and the former might seem a little pompous, but mixing the two sounds idiotic. (h/t: HA reader Peter M)
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
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This is bothersome and he really does need to chose one way or the other. Otherwise he sounds like a douche.
myrenovations on May 14, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Morion is heard to speak whatever language the beholder speaks….
sven10077 on May 14, 2009 at 8:10 AM
This is what happens when you try too hard to impress the old, white, uber-progs, Barry…
You end up sounding like an ashat.
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:11 AM
He´s sending my kids food money and their future jobs to China and every other pos rat bastard on earth and we´re worried about this? STOPPIT! NOW!
james hooker on May 14, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Yeah, but that would mean he’d have to drop most of his speeches to not sound like a douche.
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:12 AM
What’s the big deal? Everything he says sounds idiotic!
Barb Dwyer on May 14, 2009 at 8:18 AM
And I would support that.
myrenovations on May 14, 2009 at 8:19 AM
It’s affectation. Most of Obama’s behavior is an affectation. Affectation is the pathetic attempt of the poor to appear rich. Let’s call it what it is: Obama’s a street thug with a mellifluous voice and George Soros’ backing. He is in no way up to the task of being POTUS, and so feels he must necessarily pose his way though it to avoid being exposed as a complete fraud. Sadly, he’s failing.
mr.blacksheep on May 14, 2009 at 8:20 AM
o/t: i was at a meeting yesterday for a potential GOP attorney general nominee for Virginia. one gentleman, a retired state trooper said that only 2 issues mattered to him: abortion & gay marriage.
i would have thought a retired state trooper would have mentioned some law & order issue. or taxes. or his right to carry a concealed weapon.
just interesting to me. thanks for listening.
kelley in virginia on May 14, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Maybe he’s only halfway through “Christian Amanpour for Dummies“.
LastRick on May 14, 2009 at 8:21 AM
:)
Also, just like his accent, everything about BHO is contrived.
Oh well, what can you expect from a lefty.
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:21 AM
Ed, in this one post, you’ve perfectly captured Obama’s character:
Pompous idiot.
Loxodonta on May 14, 2009 at 8:22 AM
back to bambi sounding so “affected” on tv. on Glenn Beck radio yesterday, glenn said that he talked to Newt last weekend or sometime recently & Newt said that bambi was “thomas jefferson”–meaning he knew exactly what he was doing & obviously had thought all this out.
kelley in virginia on May 14, 2009 at 8:22 AM
I sympathize, but short of revolution, he has to be voted out. That means the slow people need to see him unmasked, deconstructed if you will, in order to understand what you already do. It’s painful I know. It seems like it’s going to have to be the same kind of drip, drip, drip that is currently sinking that stinking Pelosi. That took years. So let’s thank Ed for adding another drip daily, as frustrating as this slow process seems.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Yes, it’s surprising how many Obama supporters [that regularly read/watch the news] don’t even realize many of his blunders… We can take this and casually drop it into our conversations… I’ve found it can severely depress them (+1 us). So yes, it’s a long process, but as long as the left doesn’t have the opportunity of turning him into their newest FDR/JFK love child, I can bide my time.
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Thank your blessings- at least Nicahrhw*&^&*ragua isn’t in the news…..
marks on May 14, 2009 at 8:26 AM
And then they find them again in weird places…ever notice that?
ladyingray on May 14, 2009 at 8:26 AM
New clure.
More proof he’s Bush II.
MarkT on May 14, 2009 at 8:27 AM
or count your blessings, if you’d prefer that to thanking them- (should’ve previwed before submitting-)
marks on May 14, 2009 at 8:28 AM
one obama voter i know has been very quiet ever since bambi said that the US in no longer a Christian nation. that is a quote the Repubs should repeat over & over.
oh, yeah, the Republicans are really doing anything. scratch that suggestion.
kelley in virginia on May 14, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Damn. I would so much rather hear a vice president who said “you betcha” than this fascist.
rbj on May 14, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Does anyone know how Obama pronounces Louisville, KY vs. New Orleans, LA? I wonder if Hillary gave him some pointers when visiting the shackled voters of the democrat party…
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:30 AM
What is worse are the members of the media trying to emulate him for crissakes.
A guy with ears like his should not be so “tennis” head with TOTUS either. He is becoming more unnatural, and more of a caricature of himself all the time.
singlemalt_18 on May 14, 2009 at 8:30 AM
I bet if Caroline would have been allowed to become senator from NY (before she got booed out of the state), the Kennedys would have officially adopted him…
Upstater85 on May 14, 2009 at 8:31 AM
Technically he should say pahk i stahn
Or af gh (growl in throat kind of) ahnistahn
He should stick to American pronunciation
But the effort is appreciated
blatantblue on May 14, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Obama has a Kansan accent, dontcha know! Here he is in 2008, at at time when he was also using the pretentious “Pock ee stahn” pronunciation:
“I don’t think there’s any secret about this,” Obama said. “My father was from Kenya so I’ve got an Arab-sounding name, and I think most people know that I was raised by my mom who was from Kansas, which is why I’ve got a Kansas-sounding accent…”
Buy Danish on May 14, 2009 at 8:36 AM
I agree that his ears are a huge distraction. Maybe I’m shallow, but I just can’t get past them.
Also, given that he was raised in Indonesia and Hawaii by non-native English speakers and white people, I’m curious how and why he learned to speak, at times, with a somewhat southern black accent.
Perhaps dialects of groups he doesn’t belong to are a hobby of his.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Ah yes, that is what it is. Which is why when I hear Obama speak, I instantly think of middle America and amber waves of grain.
myrenovations on May 14, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Yes, but Obama was never, ever poor! That’s just one more cleverly calculated myth perpetuated by the fabulist Barack about his upbringing – which was one of privilege, not poverty.
Buy Danish on May 14, 2009 at 8:43 AM
In Afghan, is pronounced “Aff-WAN-ee-ston”
bluelightbrigade on May 14, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Speaking of midwest accents, this is pretty much the definitive guide to Michiganders.
The whole site is great fun if you are a native.
BigD on May 14, 2009 at 8:45 AM
I think he acquired his pronunciation of Pakistan from his Pakistani roommate. I hope I don’t get roasted for saying this but it may be possible that he is not trying to be consciously pompous in this case.
Gaurav on May 14, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Adding up his accents, posing, facial expressions and great love for the spotlight, I think we are going to find out one day he was a theater major.
sherry on May 14, 2009 at 8:46 AM
LOL. Seriously. NOBODY has ever seen the real Barack Obama–not even himself. He’s a total creation, and an amalgamation of various themes from our culture. He’s a hideous caricature of a real human being, as are so many people, of course. The problem being naturally, that he’s been elected leader. The absurdity of that would make Kafka laugh. The blind leading the blind. Just before I slit my throat, I’m going to remember this joke so I can die with a smile on my face.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:48 AM
I noticed General Petraeus on the Sunday shows saying Pocky-stahn and Afghanistan identical to Obama. I may be mistaken, but I don’t believe he pronounced Pocky-stahn prior to Obama’s election. I’m thinking Obama gave him a direct order to start pronouncing it that way. Ed, maybe you could round up an old video of the General to verify this.
txsurveyor on May 14, 2009 at 8:48 AM
I could so see him in Gilbert and Sullivan!
Sing along with me:
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:50 AM
No. Affectations are attempts to be something other than what you are. I mean Hillary doing her “I ain’t in no ways tired” schtick at a black church or John Kerry doing his “Can I get a huntin’ license here?” are no less affectations than Obama doing “Pock-ee-stan.”
BigD on May 14, 2009 at 8:50 AM
I don’t know about the Southern part, but he definitely talks like one of the brothas when convenient. Not just the accent, but the vocabulary, like “you’ve been hoodwinked and bamboozled. heh.”
Of course Hillary does the same thing with her accent, and oddly enough they are both congenital liars.
Buy Danish on May 14, 2009 at 8:53 AM
TOTUS! The foreign dignitaries at his sides must be thinking. What’s with these teleprompters? Hmmm….another sign of weakness.
shick on May 14, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Hey, stupid people love that sh*t. Did Hillary get any flak from the people inside that church for badly imitating their accents, right to their faces???
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Oslime-a is all things to all people. Combined with the fact that he is too black to fail, it just can’t be true that he is a complete fraud.
csdeven on May 14, 2009 at 8:55 AM
I don’t care how he pronounces Pakistan – I just want to know how he is going to pronounce “mea culpa” when everything he is doing blows up in his face (literally and figuratively).
KLI50 on May 14, 2009 at 8:58 AM
I never heard that. That is freaking priceless!!
Too black to fail. Man does that say it all.
Good for you. you can go back to sleep.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 8:58 AM
Obama has no core. He will adapt and automatically mimic whomever he is with. This is not an uncommon tendency in children who have grown up in foreign cultures. I used to do this myself, but I found that some people thought I was mocking them. I have had to train myself to avoid this tendency.
gridlock2 on May 14, 2009 at 9:01 AM
gaurav
I don’t think it’s pomposity either
*ducks for cover*
blatantblue on May 14, 2009 at 9:01 AM
My guess is that TOTUS is not scrolling what we would consider normal English text. It is, instead, scrolling everything in a stream of phonic pronunciation. Mix middle-eastern with street and a rap beat and you will have where the speeches are headed. Soon Pocky-stahn will have some skin in the game…
Yoop on May 14, 2009 at 9:02 AM
It will be pronounced — Bu sh’s fau lt
myrenovations on May 14, 2009 at 9:04 AM
Appreciate your point, but I was speaking metaphorically. Obama is “poor” in the sense that his much vaunted “intellectualism” is becoming more and more obviously just a veneer over a hollow core; his qualifications for the job are a fabrication of the media; his skills as an orator are no deeper than the screen of the teleprompter. In his heart, he knows he’s a fake, so his affectation is an attempt not only to fool us, but to fool himself. It’s not working on me.
mr.blacksheep on May 14, 2009 at 9:05 AM
I think you’re prob. right. He just presses the SAP button on his pulpit remote and totus gives him arabic and black options. I’m not sure Obama knows what it means (such as when he recites the Koran in Arabic), but he is getting better at sounding foreign.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Thank you again for amplifying my point. “Poor” and “rich” don’t always refer to material wealth. Obama is bereft of intellectual substance, but desperately wants to convince himself, and us, that he’s a heavyweight.
mr.blacksheep on May 14, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Even though I am Indian, I have seen enough Hollywood movie to notice this. If I may hazard a guess, I think he deliberately developed the accent to embrace his Af-Am identity (while at the same time rejecting his mother’s heritage)
Gaurav on May 14, 2009 at 9:09 AM
Ob00ba!
Akzed on May 14, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Gaurav, I love you. Thanks for brightening my day. LMAO!
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 9:11 AM
Maybe it’s just that Obama can speak Pakistanish, but not Afghanistanese.
Daggett on May 14, 2009 at 9:12 AM
What!? You want consistency from this president?
c.u.shoeless on May 14, 2009 at 9:19 AM
I seem to remember the rampant left making fun of Bush for mangling the English language and for trying to sound intelligent while saying Middle Eastern names and towns. Where are the skits on SNL with DeNiro and Ferrel now concerning 0bama?
Torch on May 14, 2009 at 9:19 AM
Ed, you provincial bahstid.
Why, he’s all sophisticated and stuff.
hillbillyjim on May 14, 2009 at 9:25 AM
Obligatory “if Bush did it” comment.
rockhead on May 14, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Ed, proper pronunciation is never pompous.
ernesto on May 14, 2009 at 9:36 AM
Duh…
Obama is speaking Austrian
Uncle Bouncy on May 14, 2009 at 9:41 AM
LOL. Good one.
shick on May 14, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Sorry, but I disagree. Narcissim does not allow for such introspection. I think that Obama truely believes that he is always correct and everyone else who has a differing perspective, by default, is obviously wrong.
Yoop on May 14, 2009 at 9:44 AM
It could be worse – he could go to Australia and start channeling Crocodile Dundee. Bonza!
landshark on May 14, 2009 at 9:46 AM
It’s because his roommates in college were Pakistani and he visited there — this is not an Obamateurism.
It’s not like he says Jenghis.
This one does not qualify for Hot Air’s high standards, rather seems like personal and petty.
Why don’t you hit him for letting his cheeks go flaccid when he says his P’s — Mrs. Curtis always told us , repeatedly, that was a big no no.
Anyone remember the left’s constant harping on Bush for Nucular.
David
LifeTrek on May 14, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Still don’t trust him, his trilateral partners or his teleprompter on any security issues.
David
LifeTrek on May 14, 2009 at 9:53 AM
I have to wonder if after saying Pah-kee-stahn he was thinking in the back of his mind ‘do you want a slurpy with that?’
I know Biden was…
Onus on May 14, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Uh…he is a douche.
SouthernGent on May 14, 2009 at 10:06 AM
This is hilarious.
It reminds me of one time when my wife and I were watching Martha Stewart’s show and she was baking a ham.
Throughout the show, she kept pronouncing ham in the pretentious “British” sounding way.
Then once she slipped up and said it in the traditional American way. She sounded so New Jersey (no offense to anyone from NJ). I laughed so hard I almost fell off the couch.
Guess you had to be there.
UltimateBob on May 14, 2009 at 10:12 AM
What, and spoil my favorite Obama speech party game? “Pah-kee-stahn…,” DRIIIINK!!!!!!
Dee2008 on May 14, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Here we find his twofaced ability to blend is beginning to hurt him. In PA he gave speeches about working values, hope and American tradition.He developed a slight drawl when he spoke to those people. Then he went to San Francisco and spoke of those Pennsylvanians as being bitter gun clingers, his accent was distinctly cosmopolitan. Compare the two for yourself.
canditaylor68 on May 14, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Yes, I believe narcissism is the result of the suppression of the guiding voice of truth. Whether the kernel of what we all know, deep, deep, down is the truth about ourselves can ever be completely extinguished is another question. Maybe it can.
The one point on which I would contend is that affectation is a sign of insincerity (deceptive intent). Forming the intent to deceive means that you are aware of what at least you think is the truth, but are deliberately trying to convey something else.
For example, nobody with a resume as thin as Obama’s can actually believe they are worthy of two autobiographies before they are 50 years old, when the greatest of men (in the gender-inclusive sense ;), don’t seem to feel the need to write autobiographies: they let their deeds speak for themselves.
mr.blacksheep on May 14, 2009 at 10:21 AM
oldleprechaun on May 14, 2009 at 10:24 AM
When Afghans talk about Afghanistan they pronounce it
Af-Honn-ee-ston, so if we’re going to pronounce names like the natives, it should be Af-Honn-ee-ston and Pockyston.
So here’s a pronunciation dilemma: does he pronounce “New Orleans” as Noo-vel Or-Lay-on (as the French named it) or as “Nawlins” as its “chocolate city” mayor calls it?
And, speaking of New England, the city “hoffway between Hatfd and Bawstin is Woosta” (Worcester), and the “pawt city nawth of Bawstin is Glawsta” (Gloucester). But maybe they tawt Obama that in Hahvid.
Obama shouldn’t talk about water-boarding violating the Geneva convention either, because French-speaking natives of that city call it zhuh-NEV. And good luck trying to pronounce Zurich like the Germans do.
See how much fun it is to be “worldly”?
Steve Z on May 14, 2009 at 10:30 AM
How do Brits pronounce “ham”?
Buy Danish on May 14, 2009 at 10:33 AM
They don’t. It offends Muslims.
mr.blacksheep on May 14, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Pretentious poser
DamnCat on May 14, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Which is worse in English than in French, where the word “douche” means simply “shower”.
Steve Z on May 14, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Mahtha was homming it up.
Steve Z on May 14, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Yes it is, when it is applied to certain words only, in order to fake a affinity for something or someone.
JiangxiDad on May 14, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Wow.
Dave Rywall on May 14, 2009 at 10:51 AM
I agree. I think it is the work of his sketchy Pakistani pals from his “formative years”.
forest on May 14, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Maybe if Obama and his “college friend” had gone to Afghanistan for a week when they summered in beautiful Pockeeston, Obama would know how to pronounce Afghanistan like a true Muslim.
OxyCon on May 14, 2009 at 11:09 AM
His tell.
Pakistan matters to Obama.
He has an affinity to it from childhood.
Otherwise, he’d say the word like any other.
Obama has no affection for Afghanistan.
The place is just a place for him to abuse.
His involvement there is to ruin our military.
maverick muse on May 14, 2009 at 11:14 AM
mutton
maverick muse on May 14, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Bilingual wannabe.
qestout on May 14, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Keep it up.
/Dave Rywall
daesleeper on May 14, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Yep, that’s why our Fearless Reader’s pronunciations qualify for an Obamateurism of the Day.
This whole thing reminds me of a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, Kelly’s Heroes. During the scene when the general (played by Carol O’Connor) first gets wind of Kelly’s push past enemy lines his aide, Booker, tells him that the activity is happening near the town of “CLARE-mon,” using the correct native pronunciation. Carol O’Connor gives him an exasperated look and says “Is that Claremont, Booker?”
Y-not on May 14, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Yeah, I noticed that PAHK-ee-stahn/Afghanistan contradiction myself a couple months back. Drives me nuts.
flipflop on May 14, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Sorry. It’s a pet peeve.
baldilocks on May 14, 2009 at 12:03 PM
I thought you guys were above this petty stuff. Guess not. You love going nukeyouler,
Dave Rywall on May 14, 2009 at 12:33 PM
It’s pretentious. Remember from his book, he made up stories, and told the children from his Indonesian school, that he was an African prince? LOL
Not much different from Madonna, when she strangely adopted a British accent.
Stupid? Yes! Pretentious? Yes! But it is Obama, after all.
capejasmine on May 14, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Geeze Dave. This is a thread equipt for comments. If people want to comment, let em. I see over at Huffpo, they post on everything Palin, or Prejean, and they really don’t have anything to do, with current events, or the government problems at large.
Lighten up hon!
capejasmine on May 14, 2009 at 12:46 PM
I think it’s more of a BBC intonation…
darkpixel on May 14, 2009 at 5:00 PM
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly starts speaking with a brogue too. Grandpa Stanley Dunham’s family originally came from Ireland.
An interesting tidbit: The Irish meaning of the first name Dunham is “dark skinned fighter.”
Barb Dwyer on May 14, 2009 at 5:04 PM
I’ve actually been disturbed by this “pockeestan” nonsense since I first heard him say it… though I haven’t quite figured out why it bothers me so much.
RightWinged on May 14, 2009 at 5:52 PM
He affects fake accents because he feels inadequate for not speaking any foreign languages. That doesn’t stop him from mocking other Americans (many of whom do speak at least one foreign language).
disa on May 14, 2009 at 10:11 PM