I don't think I learned very much, but the beer was excellent. 'Nuff said.
There was a wonderful article by Kitty Burns Florey in MSN Slate Magazine yesterday: Diagramming Sarah. It took a grammatical look at some of Governor Palin's famously tortured sentences by attempting to diagram them as we learned how to do back in grade school. Well, as you learned how to do if you went to grade school when they actually taught us how to write. Here's an example from the article, using a sentence from her interview with Charlie Gibson. First, the sentence:
"I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people."
Now, the diagram:
You can click on the image to make it larger...not that it will make it any clearer.In fairness, Governor Palin did a competent, if not statesmanlike job in last night's debate, while Senator Biden contained his famous tendency to ramble and shoot himself in his rhetorical foot. Lincoln and Douglas they weren't, but both came out unscathed.
Now we move on to the second McCain-Obama debate. I'm ready. I still have beer left.
But it's Friday, and tonight I can go dancing. I'm ready for some fun. And it's only 36 days until our vacation.
I am sooooo ready.
Have a good day. Cartoon Saturday coming tomorrow.
Bilbo
I had to go to work later and was forced to watch without the benefit of the beer. My mistake!
ReplyDeleteI only watched about 30 minutes and I didn't see Biden rambling, to my surprise. He must have done so as it wore on....but I did see Palin refusing to answer anything except stuff about Energy policy and acting like a smart-a**, winking at the TV camera. I was stunned by that. This was the first time I'd seen her speak and the arrogance was impressive--and not in a good way.
ReplyDeletePalin made me want to toss my tv. We're working on a drinking game for the next Obama McCain debate. Mostly for things McCain says that are freaking irritating. Its guaranteed to have you toasted by the time the first round is over.
ReplyDeleteI used to love diagramming sentences. I still find myself trying to parse unusual sentences in my head by sticking them in a diagram. Doesn't usually work, but this one's just way cool.
ReplyDeleteOn your subject line, did you hear about the schoolboy who was asked to use the words "detail", "defense" and "defeat" in one sentence?
Gilahi - you left out the word "deduct", making the sentence read "Defeat of deduct went over defense before detail." I may have been that schoolboy...
ReplyDeleteHear Joe talk. Talk Joe talk. See Sarah wink. (this sentence could also end with a question mark) Wink Sarah wink. This debate made me hungry. I had a mooseburger with a cold St. Louis In-Bev light.
ReplyDeleteWould like tro have seen it here in Britain.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is "you betcha!"
ReplyDelete