I'm Catherine from Hot Springs, SD

[catherine.ratliff]

I hope "new post" means a place to introduce myself. I am a "double" English major from a family of several English majors. In our family a favorite pastime was identifying grammatical and spelling errors; I am a picky grammarian. I notice the odd turns of phrase, incorrect idioms and hilarious mixed metaphors that we hear mostly from politicians these days, but even newscasters.
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Explore everything, question everything

[Torsten]

Hi Catherine,

It's great you have joined our community and I look forward to your contributions. Could you please give us an example of how politicians and newscasters use idioms or expressions incorrectly?

Many thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[catherine.ratliff]

Hi

I like Hillary but she continually and consistently uses "I" in the objective position. "It seems to Bill and I that ...."

I must start a journal because there are some really funny ones. Politicians are susceptible to these because they are always looking for a catchy, colorful, succinct image.

All I find right now is a note about a mixed proverb by Mitt Romney: "Don't cast rocks at people who ..." ( proverbially, people "cast stones" and "throw rocks") -- I realize this is subtle and probably therefore trivial. And Hillary Clinton, a very concrete mixed metaphor -- "I don't intend to sit standing by...."

And here's another mis-usage by Hillary (who I support, BTW): "I want to mitigate against what is going on in this economy." (One mitigates, period. Or something "militates against" something else, and she may have had that phrase filed nearby.

Okay, this will be my shtick from here on -- I will journal and post political usage and mixed metaphors.

[Torsten]

What a wonderful idea to start a journal on hilarious idioms and expressions used by politicians. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested in that. Do you happen to know some funny phrases created by Obama or McCain?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[catherine.ratliff]

You know, in the past I've jotted down funny things politicians say; but I never did consolidate or file. I'll start over; I'll make a point of posting these. Obama is a master of the language; I have never heard him say anything -- that I took note of -- that was mal-usage or mixed proverbs or metaphors.

[daemon99]

Hi Catherine,

I think you've grossly misunderestimated the politicians.

Everybody makes mistakes even while speaking their own native language (but politicians are more listened to than others ).

The reason could be that they don't have enough time to think (unlike while writing).

Mistakes happen when we are trying to come up with some new phrases/idioms/expressions that we don't normally use in our every day communication because they are not registered in our subconscious mind.

If a politican makes a mistake once, then we can safely ignore it. But when he/she repeats it then I think he/she has got a problem with the language.

These are just my thoughts. You may beg to differ