PM Yingluck's Gaffe - Remember Your Lines

[SAffer]

This is soooo of topic and boring.

We all know that American and British spelling is different... geez Soutpeel, what are you guys on about?

Yingluck no doubt studied in American English... so this is why she can't say welcome?????

[SAffer]

This is soooo off topic and boring.

We all know that American and British spelling is different... geez Soutpeel, what are you guys on about?

Yingluck no doubt studied in American English... so this is why she can't say welcome?????

Edit for spelling

[Orac]

I thought the pedantic bickering over spelling was quite appropriate for such a pedantic non-story that The Nation managed to squeeze out of a mispronouncement of one word by someone who is not a native english speaker.

[Payboy]

This is soooo off topic and boring.

We all know that American and British spelling is different... geez Soutpeel, what are you guys on about?

Yingluck no doubt studied in American English... so this is why she can't say welcome?????

Edit for spelling

Well, at least she got "Hirraly" right.

[scotbeve]

I dont profess to be a professional journalist, PM or "English teacher"...

Perhaps not, but when you criticize journalism to the extreme you did (comparing it to a 3 year old) you had better pay closer attention to your spelling.

Criticise doesnt have a "z" in it....

Toe - may - toe / toe - mah - toe, both understood, correct? Doesn't matter does it all then?

[Skywalker69]

I think it's a bit rough to have a shot at the PM's English skills. One could say that she was brave to "have a go" at doing it in English. Perhaps, in hind-sight, she should have done it in Thai, and let the government spokesperson do the English translation.

I am a bit surprised to see that she has a Masters from Ken State though.

That is strange indeed if you don't speak good English (assuming the course was in English)

No idea what language they speak in Kentucky, but rumour has it Sarah Palin once said "If we hadn't won our independence we'd all be speaking English now"

Chickin English, perhaps?

jb1

The light is on but there is no one at hme.

[hanuman1]

Interesting point..

Collins is a British English Dictionary like Oxford

Webster's (American English) shows only criticize.

Both only have concise. No z form that I know of.

I am sorry the only proper reference is the Oxford English, if it aint in there then the word /spelling doesnt exist... .

Spell-checking software is making people who should know better use the 'z'.

[tropo]

Interesting point..

Collins is a British English Dictionary like Oxford

Webster's (American English) shows only criticize.

Both only have concise. No z form that I know of.

I am sorry the only proper reference is the Oxford English, if it aint in there then the word /spelling doesnt exist... .

Spell-checking software is making people who should know better use the 'z'.

Not so. The "people who should know better" would know to use the appropriate spell checker for the English they prefer.

American spelling will eventually take over because people who don't know better are using the wrong spell checkers.

What's the harm in taking out the odd redundant letter here and there and making the spelling a bit more intuitive? Putting "s" where "z" is pronounced is stupid anyway. The English language is a mess and nothing to be proud of.

[JAG]

Can't we get back to the purpose of this thread, sneering at the PM?

[hyperdimension]

People are saying that this thread is just about a mispronunciation of a single word. The issue is much larger than that - she also mispronounced "pleasure" as "pressure" and "alleviate" as "elevate".

People criticize The Nation for its own writers' grammatical and spelling errors, and I often do too. That doesn't mean that we can't also criticize a Prime Minister's mistakes in reading a speech, to the point that it is evident that she doesn't even know what she is reading.

I doubt that Yingluck could even write an in-depth news article or opinion piece, either in English or Thai, as she simply lacks substantial awareness of world issues and affairs. I wonder what kind of converations she would have with other world leaders at these events... If you put a Thai bargirl in the same situation, the conversation may not be much different both in substance and delivery. Though of course the other leaders would still treat her with great respect, as it makes things easier for the countries that they represent to get what they want from Thailand.

Even though the Political Science Masters degree course that she supposedly attended would have required plenty of essays written in English, based on the evidence that we have seen, I think we can conclude that it is more likely than not that she simply paid for her degree without attending classes. I speculate that the essays and theses that she would have had to submit may have been completed by someone who was happy to accept the cash. She (or her brother) could easily afford to pay someone, such as a PhD student, 10k USD or more for an essay or thesis.

She has said in interviews that Thaksin has taught her a lot (when responding to the "clone" question for example). One thing that she has learnt is that just about anything and everything can be bought, including power over a country.

Edited November 24, 2011 by hyperdimension