Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lao Wai]

Hey people,

I just saw George W. Bush on t.v. speaking at a press conference. I wasn't really paying attention to what he said, but to how he said it. I noticed that he speaks rather informally and uses a lot of slang-ish contractions. I don't necessarily have a problem with this but I'm wondering what the American public thinks. On the one hand, I can see people liking this way of speaking because it makes the President seem more 'down-to-earth'. On the other hand, I can see others who might think that as the leader of the country, he should set an example.

This brings me to my next point. When I teach ESL I don't really use slang like 'gonna, shoulda, woulda, etc.' because it might confuse students, at least beginners anyway. I would explain the slang though. But, I also don't use it when I teach Canadian kids either (I was (am?) a public school teacher in Canada, now teaching ESL in a public school in Hong Kong). When I was doing my BEd. the faculty supervisors were quick to pick up on some of the teaching interns who were using a lot of slang when they were teaching and told them they should try to be a bit more formal in their speech (not stiff, but saying 'going to' instead of 'gonna'. I personally didn't have a problem with this after having taught in Korea for two years I was used to speaking clearly, but I know some of my friends continued to speak the way they do in every day life with their students.

What do the rest of you think? Should teachers be held up to a higher standard in the way they speak as compared to the rest of the public. I mean, if the President of the United States doesn't seem to be that concerned, does that give a free pass to all of the teachers in the U.S.? I'm seriously not slamming Bush, but most of the Canadian Prime Ministers I can recall spoke rather formally when I saw them on t.v. I also think Clinton was quite eloquent in his speech as well.

[flotsam]

Why do all sock-trolls employ the same poor elements of style?

Effort, people. Effort.

[kato]

He's what we call a "good 'ol boy". He is not very well-spoken at all, nor does he possess much in the way of etiquette. It was even worse when he first got into office. Obviously he has received some coaching...but its still pretty funny (scary?) to watch...that this guy is the leader of the most powerful country in the world.

[Lao Wai]

Flotsam,

I'm hardly a troll. And nothing in my post was sarcastic or made 'tongue in cheek' even. I don't post much on these forums because I don't live in Korea anymore. I would post on the Hong Kong forum, but it's pretty slow and not a lot is talked about. I think if you were to do a search of my posts you'd probably find them all to be rather tame, if not boring. It's funny though, I'm always accused of having a sarcastic tone to my voice when I speak to people even when I'm not being sarcastic. Apparently it comes across in my writing too. I already know that Bush is accused of being an idiot etc. That wasn't my point. My question was whether people in certain positions of authority (the President, teachers, doctors, etc) should speak a certain way. And what the hell is a sock-troll anyway? And what did you think I was trolling about? Bush?

Anyway, I'm not going to go on an on. All I can say is that I honestly wasn't fishing for insults towards Bush. I now wish I had left his name out of the post entirely. It's just that he's the one that got me thinking about the question I put forth which you didn't answer because you were too busy being an asshole.

[VanIslander]

Whadaya expect from a guy who used to snort cocaine for years and head across to Mexico for illegals?

He is REAL.

Americans don't like a phony, even if the real thing isn't much (remember the coca-cola campaign: "the real thing")

He lies, but that's different than being a phony. Shouldn't be, but it is.

[RACETRAITOR]

A few months ago I read an interesting article about how uber-intelligent the first presidents of the US were. There were guys that spoke a sackful of languages, could type on a typewriter while playing one hand while playing piano on the other--actually I don't remember any names or what they could actually do, but it was stuff like this. At some point politicians stopped becoming leaders and started becoming followers.

[Wangja]

Didn't Bush-ee have to go to acting school to rid himself of his Boston/Harvard accent?

[cdninkorea]

[seoulsucker]

[RACETRAITOR]

I found the link I was thinking of.

http://www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm

This one's my favourite: Both ambidextrous and multilingual, 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

At about what time did the US stop electing presidents like this?