wispfox: (Default)
[personal profile] wispfox
Today, apparently, I am utterly convinced that there should be an 'e' at the end of 'potato'. I have to think very hard to not include it. It's confusing me, because a) I don't know how long I've been doing it, and b) I don't know _why_ I'm doing it.


(incidentally, my full name is somewhere in the Firefox NY Times ad)

Date: 2004-12-16 06:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ayalanya.livejournal.com
it's all dan quayle's fault!

*silly grin*

Date: 2004-12-16 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ian-gunn.livejournal.com
*snap* I was going to blame him too.

Date: 2004-12-16 06:48 pm (UTC)
fraterrisus: A bald man in a tuxedo, grinning. (Default)
From: [personal profile] fraterrisus
Ye Olde Vice Presidente himself.

e.

Date: 2004-12-16 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wispfox.livejournal.com
*laugh* Doubtful, I am.

Date: 2004-12-16 06:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jodawi.livejournal.com
I had no trouble with potato or tomato until Dan Quayle screwed it up famously, and for some reason I've always been unsure since then.

Date: 2004-12-16 07:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wispfox.livejournal.com
Hmm.

See, I'd say that I doubt it was that, simply because I was _not_ aware of politics of much media at that time. But I suppose it could be that...

Date: 2004-12-16 07:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] johnpalmer.livejournal.com
It wasn't just politics; it spread like wildfire.

It's a tad bit unfair, too, because Quayle was reading from cue cards, and possibly from cue cards from the spelling competition, whose winner he was congratulating. If the official competition spelling was "potatoe", who was he to argue? And I could easily get caught by "Oh... I guess without-the-e is a super-common regionalism."

But, something about Dan Quayle just stirred up the media like nobody's business. Any slip he made would be trumpetted for all the world to hear.

Date: 2004-12-16 08:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wispfox.livejournal.com
It wasn't just politics; it spread like wildfire.

Aaaaah. OK. Then it's entirely possible I saw it somewhere and was no longer sure about the spelling I learned. I have that problem often enough, since it's not as if English is terribly consistent.

Quayle was reading from cue cards, and possibly from cue cards from the spelling competition, whose winner he was congratulating. If the official competition spelling was "potatoe", who was he to argue? And I could easily get caught by "Oh... I guess without-the-e is a super-common regionalism."

Oh, ouch.

Kinda like the fact that people still think that Gore claimed to have invented the internet, I suspect.

Date: 2004-12-16 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ian-gunn.livejournal.com
Weeeellll, it is true that political opponents like to point out mistakes, but Dan Quayle made more then his fair share. The guy could not think on his feet. Take a look at these (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Dan_Quayle/). quotes. And those are the relatively mild ones. He made a lot of doozies worse then these.

media echoes the frames

Date: 2004-12-17 08:10 am (UTC)
cos: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cos
There is that, but it's not the only reason. Political coverage in the US tends to simplify each public person into a set of frames, then amplifies anything about that person that fits the frames while often missing things that don't fit. Dan Quayle's frame was, more than anything else, "lightweight, not up to the job, fumbling as he tries to play a part that's above him and that he's not smart enough for." So when he made mistakes, which he often did, they got amplified through the media echo chamber and popular folklore.

George W Bush, on the other hand, has been framed as "humble, plainspoken, brash, man of the people." He makes more public speaking fumbles and ridiculous errors than Dan Quayle by far, but doesn't suffer nearly as much for it because he's been framed differently. Or look at coverage of Dean during the primaries. The Republicans kept suggesting he was an "angry liberal" and his Democratic opponents took that up, repeated it, and added suggestions of a "temper problem". He in fact had no temper problem at all, but that became his frame anyway, so anything that came up that seemed to reinforce the idea no matter how inconsequential or wrong, got amplified by the media echo chamber. Once you've been framed, everything else falls in.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, a Canadian reporter played a practical joke on George W Bush by telling him that "Canadian Prime Minister Jean Poutine" (a play on "Putin") had recently praised him, and asking for Bush's reaction. Bush praised "Poutine" in return, completely failing to remember that the Canadian PM was actually named Jean Chretien.

Imagine what would have happened if Bush had been framed the way Dan Quayle was, and did that.

Re: media echoes the frames

Date: 2004-12-17 01:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ian-gunn.livejournal.com
I agree with what you say. The general perception does indeed depend on how the media present and frame it. Both Quayle and GW are very prone to misspeaking. That GW does not get called on it as often as he deserves it is a source of frustration in a lot of people, isn't it? He could not tell the difference between cheesy fries and the Canadian PM? That is funny. Wait, is there a difference? ;P

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