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Yeah, ouch.  Is it sad that I still figure she's one of the smarter people in the administration?

Oh, come on, don't make me defend people in this administration.  This kind of inadvertant flub when speaking in a language that's not your primary one is understandable for anyone.

She's out of her country, out of her element, and a probably more than a little rusty with the language.  It takes the brain a little time to catch up with the translation.

That she can speak Russian well enough to give an interview in it - even with minor errors - is to be lauded.  This is a non-issue at best.

How many languages do you speak, Wolph?  Ever trip up?  Ever make a REAL gaffe?  I'm at three languages now - English, French, and Romanian (English is my native language, and I don't consider myself fluent in the other two, but I can get by)  - and I'm always aware that a funny flub is not far off, no matter how careful I am.  Two summers ago, I spent half the trip calling all the little old women in my wife's village whores, had no idea why everyone was laughing so much.

Now THAT'S a gaffe.  This?  Took her brain a second longer to process the question than "Yes" took to say.

resedit wrote:

It's even harder with women, because when they say no, they really mean yes.

Same thing with Monica heh

oatmeal wrote:

Oh, come on, don't make me defend people in this administration.  This kind of inadvertant flub when speaking in a language that's not your primary one is understandable for anyone.

She's out of her country, out of her element, and a probably more than a little rusty with the language.  It takes the brain a little time to catch up with the translation.

That she can speak Russian well enough to give an interview in it - even with minor errors - is to be lauded.  This is a non-issue at best.

How many languages do you speak, Wolph?  Ever trip up?  Ever make a REAL gaffe?  I'm at three languages now - English, French, and Romanian (English is my native language, and I don't consider myself fluent in the other two, but I can get by)  - and I'm always aware that a funny flub is not far off, no matter how careful I am.  Two summers ago, I spent half the trip calling all the little old women in my wife's village whores, had no idea why everyone was laughing so much.

Now THAT'S a gaffe.  This?  Took her brain a second longer to process the question than "Yes" took to say.

Some of us dream of a day when our country's leaders are among the group of people who you can look at and think "Wow, that person is pretty amazing, they don't seem to ever make mistakes.  In fact, I know it runs against all my cultural instincts, but they aren't like me, they're a far sight better than me"

I know there are people out there like that...

Last edited by menglish (2005-04-20 8:00 pm)

Republican politician makes a gaffe = Democrats have a field day

Democratic politician makes a gaffe = Republicans have a field day

And round and round we go.

Mixing up "Yes" and "No" is a perfectly honest mistake

Languages can be very difficult, even when you have training in them. I took french immersion for many years, and could speak it fairly well. But natives of quebec speak french with a wierd accent, weird slang terms, and they speak it very, very quickly. Now, I could definately pick out a yes or a no, but I could definately understand how someone else wouldn't be able to.