I didn't watched it, but I listened to part of it. So did some of my esteemed correspondents. I hope they don't mind if I share their wisdom:
First, a comment on this entry:
Jim, hope you're watching the first Obama/McCain debate--McCain just used the word "festooned"! He must be one of your loyal readers!
That gives me some hope. Ah, the bodaciousness--bodacity, if you will--of hope.
Then, from another correspondent:
Should McCain really be using phrases like “I didn’t win Miss Congeniality” when his running mate is a former beauty pageant contestant?
And:
Now I think he just said, “explectations.”
To which I replied:
I'm not watching the debate. I listened to a little of it, but ugh. McCain's "heh heh" is as ludicrous as Bush's ... if I were him, I'd try to find a different laugh, if it's not too late in life. Maybe HO HO, or Ha HAAAAA!
The response:
Imagine being in a room with Bush, Cheney and McCain all laughing.
[...]
Crap -- he just said "Talipan."
I imagine that room a lot, but I can't imagine being in it.
"'Festoon!' Heh heh. Heh heh. I dare you to say 'festoon' in the debate."
Or maybe Festoon McCain was the real McCain, the 2000 McCain, held prisoner by Sellout McCain, sticking to their script but trying to send a signal out to tell us he's really okay.
Or maybe what he was trying to say was "Why don't you pass the time by playing a little game of solitaire?"
That last one came from a guy I was talking to at the football game last night. Incidentally, the good guys lost, but they fought hard doing it. I guess we need to keep our explectations realistic.
3 comments:
Personally, I'd like to see John McCain adopt a bashful schoolgirl giggle. It would go a long way to undercutting his prickly image.
I take what you say about the auditory quality of laughter very seriously!
After a weird episode at a conference several years ago, I returned to my home institution intent on adopting "Ha HAA!" as an expression acknowledging someone else's witticism ... but I kept forgetting to do it. So my students adopted it instead. Hilarity, as they say, ensued. That allowed me to tell stories of old friends with loud and infectious laughter.
Imagine being in a room with Bush, Cheney and McCain all laughing.
I imagine that room as 50% the scene from Austin Powers where Dr. Evil, #2 and German lady all do the laughs, and 50% black, sucking hole of cheerlessness and dread.
Post a Comment