To be fair, three very public malapropisms in six years of giving lots of speeches is actually a darn fine record. Even knowing that, I’m driven to ridicule. Because what family man doesn’t know how to pronounce OB/GYN?
[H]ow ridiculous is being the father of two girls and not knowing the pronunciation of the kind of doctor who delivered your children?
My single child is pushing thirty, but those particular doctors are still burned into my memory.
This fellow cloistered himself into privilege with determined alacrity, and so may have missed certain experiences familiar to hoi polloi. Yet still he presumably had an upbringing somewhere, on some continent of this planet. Yes? And during that upbringing he encountered people and things?
Hmmm, maybe in his bizaro world, folks are hatched, not born. Dunnno… stupid is stupid, even if you carefully learn the vocabulary…
[tinfoil cap] It’s an Obama plot. He does this stuff deliberately just to troll the “birthers” and keep them distracted from… well… everything his administration does. Since he got reelected, and hasn’t been impeached&convicted, I’d say it’s working.[/tinfoil cap]
(Nah, he’s just that out of touch with reality, as are his handlers who — you’d think — would have him rehearse speeches so they could catch those gaffs. Notice how rarely they let him speak extemporaneously.
The reasons for his speech tics is easy to understand if you have spent much time with foriegners who speak English as a second language. Many speak good English but there are words or correct pronounciations they have simply never heard. Obama is not a “native” to this country. Even if you believe the unlikely story that he was actually born in Hawaii you will agree that he grew up as a citizen of Malaysia.
Here in NY I’ve occasionally heard it pronounced “obb-gine”, although never by those in the medical profession. This would seem to be a mix of the two.
Bear, it makes sense for him to do so. I certainly would. Rehearsed and teleprompted, Obama can pose as one of the greatest orators in his political generation. Granted that oration isn’t what it used to be, but still. He can speak the words if they’re properly fed to him. We’ve all seen what happens when he tries to, uh, uh, uh, wing it. Frankly I’m surprised his handlers don’t use every means including tranquilizer darts to keep him from straying from the TOTUS, but sometimes he still does.
I’m not criticizing that. A campaign team or an administration is like any competitive team: If you want to win, you determine your strengths and play to them. The Obama group seems to forget that at odd times, and it really shows.
Joel: “Frankly I’m surprised his handlers don’t use every means including tranquilizer darts to keep him from straying from the TOTUS”
This could explain why the Secret Service is so slow off the mark to “protect” him from potential attackers- they aren’t sure which are attackers and which are handlers trying to restrain him.
Or maybe they no longer care either way…
Actually it means he is “reading” his speech or phoning it in. I’ve noticed a few officials making the gaff more and more. I can’t tell if it’s because their just horrendously bad at speaking or realizing most of US citizens just don’t care.
It’s from his background in Indonesia. I have heard OB’s referred to as such for years while living in South Asia. You’ve met my wife and know where she is from. She and all her family call them “Oh Bee Guynee”. That’s the Flip version of what the Malaysian ex-wife said; that of course was “Oh Bee Guynee”. That was the Malaysian version of what the ex GF from Jakarta called them…..you guessed it….. “pussy doctor”….or “oh bee guynee” with a slight English accent because she was educated in England.
If you do an intertubes search on his speech coach Al Sharpton and his teleprompter pronunciations you’ll understand.