Incorrect pronunciation has been in the news lately, with eNews
anchor Andrew Barnes the latest to fall victim to the political
correctness epidemic after being taken off air for remarking during a
broadcast that someone should have told Basic Education Minister Angie
Motshekga how to pronounce "epitome" correctly. He now faces
disciplinary action for his "insensitivity".
Truth be told though,
English pronunciation in South Africa is hardly up to the queen’s standard and
that includes that of native English speakers. British author and
broadcaster Stephen Fry poked fun on Twitter just the other day while
watching the cricket on television, querying the "harlot package"
advertised by a local commentator and mentioning that he was once
offered "arse cream" on a hot summer’s day while visiting Cape Town.
Sies, man.
An SAfm listener swears he heard an announcer talk the
other day of a deluge of responses to some issue that resulted in the
station being "unindated" with replies. Perhaps the listener was only
half-sober, which is almost as dangerous as tweeting when half-drunk, as
all too many seem to do.
The announcer apparently had a
"white-sounding" voice, if that means anything these days, so nobody can
accuse The Insider of being the epitome of a racist pronunciation
watchdog. We bet a penny to a colonial pound of "smiley" (roasted
half-sheep’s head, a much-loved township dish) that someone will have
sent a racist tweet on this or something similar before the week is out —
if only to gain attention and revive a fading public profile while
losing a job he or she wanted to leave anyway.
Gunslinger’s gait
IT’S
called "gunslinger’s gait", and it’s a trademark of Russian President
Vladimir Putin. But it isn’t a symptom of Parkinson’s disease, as some
have speculated.
Writing in the holiday edition of BMJ.com, the
British Medical Journal’s online publication, researchers concluded that
Putin’s distinctive manner of walking — with his right arm held rigid
and left arm swinging freely — is more likely to be a product of KGB
protocol. Apparently, it’s right there in the KGB training manual. "KGB
operatives were instructed to keep their right hand close to their chest
and to move forward leading with the left," the researchers wrote.
"Presumably (this) allows subjects to draw the gun as quickly as
possible when confronted with a foe."
No comments:
Post a Comment