And for fuck sakes! It's "WASH"-ing-ton. Not "Worsh"-ing-ton.

[Lil Missy]

Please don't tell me I'd have to go through another 4 years of someone who cannot speak plain fucking English.

I think it is embarrassing.

[MadMaddie]

1. Who are we talking about?

[snowbear]

4. McLoser calls it WORSH or WARSH ...ington

LOL!!

[gblady]

26. then, we won't have to worry....

about hearing it a lot for 4 years as Senator's don't get that much press....

[roguevalley]

36. its a regionalism, saying that. its now incorrect. its a regional

variation on pronunciation.

[ncteechur]

2. How many condoniums does he have?

[snowbear]

6. They still don't know yet......

But he he finally figured out he owns 13 cars...

[AtomicKitten]

3. Warsh-ing-ton. I agree, it makes my California born and raised ears bleed.

[mcctatas]

5. Hey now...

my hillbilly relatives from Ohio say warshington, but then again I wouldn't want any of them to be president either...

[mtnester]

31. I am from Ohio, and you can clearly identify a tri state native by

warsh, crick, pitcher (picture), tur (tour)

just like the word "where" can clearly identify you as being from Kentucky (it is almost like the wh sound and then an exhale). The word chair said with a Kentucky accent is pronounced chr (ch sound with an exhale) Hard to describe but clearly identifiable.

I love regional accents and discovering the nuances and sounds of them then applying them to see if I am right.

All that said, I have no idea where McCain picked up his Midwest accent. His mother was from Texas and his father was from Iowa. I do not think Iowa has this particular inflection. They moved around a lot, maybe he picked it up from a housekeeper or a grandparent...not real sure on this one. He could have lived far enough north in Virgina to pick up the Pennsylvania inflection.

He also said one other word, and I cannot for the life of me recall it right now (not enough coffee yet) last night that had me going "what? Who pronounces it that way?"

[abumbyanyothername]

7. Wershington

That's the way my mom (from Iowa) says it. Thank God for Jenny Miller (ex-girlfriend) who insisted I say Wahahahahshington.

Everytime McCain says Wershington, I cringe.

[Captiosus]

8. I tend to throw an "r" in Washington, too

When speaking around friends and relatives because almost everyone I know who was born and raised here throw that "r" into Wash. It's actually pretty widespread, at least down in southern VA.

However, if I'm speaking in public, I make sure to enunciate properly and not use "regional" speak. I don't care if McCain says Warshington when he's hanging out with his Senate friends, but if you're on a national stage, it just sounds bad. Ditto for nuclear, which, oddly enough, I pronounce correctly all the time, as opposed to our fearless pResident and VP wanna-be.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. Do you say "idear" also. :-)

Some folks put an r at the end of idea.

[Waiting For Everyman]

9. That's how it's said in the local area of Warshington. :)

It's how the English settlers in this area spoke back in colonial times, and ever since until recently. Yorkshire, I think it's from. For instance, the surname 'Waters' was pronounced 'Warters'. It's from Elizabethan England... Elizabeth's court, evidently, pronounced certain words or names that way (at least that's what some VERY old, dusty local history books here say about it).

And yet... oddly enough in this same area, 'water' is pronounced 'wooder'. It's changing though, b/c so many people live here from other places now.

[321Outright]

29. truth

i live in MD and thats how its pronounced by most people.
its the mid-atlantic dialect, or sometimes called now "baltimorese". McLame spent a lot of time around here, and lived around annapolis for a while, so i guess he picked up some on the "accent".

[patomime]

10. ,,,the whole thing....

for them is embarassing!!!

Good to see you!

:pals:

[Lil Missy]

12. patomime!!!!

Good to see you too!!!!

:D

:pals:

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Define plain English?

Never heard of accent and regional dialect? There are many varieties of English; my great-grandmother was from Louisville, Kentucky, and said something like 'Warshington'. Not everyone speaks unaccented American English. (Fun fact: Harry Truman pronounced it 'Warshington', too.)

[Lil Missy]

14. OMG. I don't know where to start.

Sure, I have heard of other dialects. That is fine for general conversation, socializing, co-workers, and family. Some of them may, or may not, be educated.

But I expect more from the leader of the free world, or President of this country. The last 8 years have been an exercise in covering up total stupidity. bush is a fucking moran and cannot even complete a grammatically correct or complete sentence.

So, to answer your question, YES, I DO expect MY President to be able to speak clearly and grammatically correct. And I don't understand WHY it should even be a matter of discussion. It seems to me a matter one should be able to take for granted in the first place.

[Norrin Radd]

21. Not attacking, or trying to pile on but...pronunciation is indeed an aspect

of phonology and doesn't impact grammar (which is simply word order in English: subject, verb, object).

Linguistic prescription is out of favor in the study of linguistics, as it tends to be classist in it's promotion of a particular dialect. Please consider reading about the politics of descriptive versus prescriptive linguistics.

I do agree that a President should be able to speak coherently, but that has more to do with ability and style, than adhering to the mostly arbitrary rules of prescription, or to a dialect that a certain segment considers "proper" (such as in the case of Received Pronunciation British English).

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. You mean 'speak properly' or 'in a grammatically correct manner'

not 'speak gramatically correct'. And dialect does not relate to GRAMMAR; 'Washington', even if pronounced as, say, my great-grandmother said it, is still a proper noun and is still used in the appropriate place in a sentence. Gramatically incorrect usage has to do not with pronunciation, but with things like improper use of articles and punctuation, using apostrophes in plural forms, and so on, and generally refers to written and not spoken language.

[JBoris]

15. Diane Rehm says "Worshington". It used to drive me nuts, but I got used to it. nt

[Morning Dew]

16. and Palin says nuk-u-ler

and don't get me started on McSame's "old" pen - I mean WTF is that about anyway. Who gives a crap about his effin pen or his miss congeniality award or his . . . whatever . . .

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[OmahaBlueDog]

17. Li'l Missy -- I have some bad news

Mrs. OBD was born in The District, and grew up in Silver Spring. Despite my admonishments that "There is no 'R' in Washington", Warshington is what she says, and what her family says, and what they will say until they go on to whatever comes next. So, for some of us, it is plain fucking English.

However, I share your frustration, and I wonder -- when did being articulate become a bad thing? When did the notion that speaking about an issue in depth or detail somehow become arrogance, or condecension?

[Petrushka]

18. (** gasp **) YOU said "condecension"!!!1!! (n/t)

[Lil Missy]

19. But, the difference is that they are not running for President.

[OmahaBlueDog]

20. Heck, I'm an arrogant liberal who went to Berkeley..

...or was I born in Oakland without a silver spoon in my mouth? I can never keep that straight in my mind.

[cui bono]

23. Hey! My Grandma said it like that too! A lot of people do.

[chknltl]

24. Nu-uh, it's Vashington not Varshington, sheesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUiCYAE2DY

[Goldom]

25. People say it that way in WA state too

Bugs me too though.

[gblady]

27. yep,

born and raised Warshingtonian....
that is how it's pronounced.
fo sho!

[silverojo]

28. It's just part of his regional accent and his age

His father was an Iowan, don't forget. I know a lot of Midwestern folks in their 70's, and they do tend to pronounce "wash" as "warsh". It's not ignorance, like mispronouncing "nuclear"...it's just the way people spoke in that place and in that time. Watch shows like "Leave It To Beaver", and pay close attention to their accents...Hugh Beaumont, in particular, speaks this way (he was born in Kansas).

McSame is ignorant in so many other ways, there's no need to quibble about his accent. :)

[MrSlayer]

30. General Clark says "Warshington".

I accept it without questioning his intelligence.

[FlyingSquirrel]

32. It's "WARshington"... he just likes the word "WAR". :-)

[Kitty Herder]

33. I have family members who say Warsh-ington. There's nothing wrong with

having a regional accent.

It is a bit odd, however, that Eastern Utah and Virginia share a similar pronunciations of that word.

[many a good man]

34. True natives don't pronounce the 'g'

I moved to DC 28 years ago and the old timers all call it Wore-shin-tin, totally eliding the g.

Baltimore is Bawlmer, Murrilin. Vuhginya is over the river.

[Gore1FL]

35. I am from St. Louis Missouri

And here it is Wa(r)shington.

[terrya]

37. I'm from Illinois...downstate Illinois...and I pronounce it "Warshington"

My boyfriend has mentioned that to me in the past. I haven't noticed it before.

I've been trying to correct that. It's a force of habit, I guess.

[Pharlo]

41. I'm from WI and I pronounce it

'Washington'.....But then, we also have 'bubblers', not 'water fountains'.

[onenote]

38. For fuck's sake, did you hate the way Carter and Clinton spoke too?

There are regional accents in this country. New Yorker pronounce things diffierently than folks from Wisconsin and they both sound different than folks from Georgia. Texans talk "funny" compared to people from Boston (an people from "Boston" talk funny compared to people from Texas).

Chill.

[Jennicut]

39. Taliban. I don't get that they both pronounced it weird.

I always thought it was Tal-i-ban, not Tal-e-ban. That was strange to me.

[Rocknrule]

40. *sigh* at least McSenile can pronounce "nuclear"