John Gray:
Har.
Good one.
I might donate to AOC, too, if she can manage to get through 3 sentences without saying "Like" 23 times. And up-talking, ending every statement as if a question, sounding like a retarded 11 year old.
AOC is garden variety stupid. But if she can at least SOUND not so stupid, that is worth throwing a little coin at. I'm down with that, sure!
SuperWittySmitty:
She sounds intelligent to me and her speech pattern is only slightly annoying. You can hear it everywhere, even from newscasters.
I've heard AOC at hearings, asking question that indicated that she truly knowledgeable and completely prepared. To say she is dumb as a rock implies total ignorance and makes me think you're not being objective and would rather listen to Trump speak.
johngray0:
Ok. Umm. You know. Like, you are , like, right. And umm, like, I am like totally wrong.
...
SuperWittySmitty:
I spent years teaching ESL in NYC schools and I think maybe I'm more accustomed to hearing these speech patterns than you are. Now I work in an environment where I interacted verbally with thousands of people everyday (seriously, a lot of people, and not all of them are American.)
I pay attention to how people communicate and realize how rare people with high standards of communication even exist. This is actually why I became an English teacher in the first place- my theory is that many adults are frustrated over their inability to properly communicate with others and these frustrations have negative aspects throughout their lives.
Sorry if my comment about newscasters threw you- my point was that newscasters should be (and possibly are) hired partially because of their ability to communicate verbally, which is why there are so few newscasters who are inarticulate. I listen to mostly WNYC & WNPR radio stations and would say most of their newscasters are well-educated and very articulate but not necessarily intellectuals. (newsflash: not all newscasters are on TV and their hair is not always relevant. Is this where you get your news? I do not watch TV news. I listen and read to get my news.) I frequently notice the many of them (mostly the women) use upspeak and that drives me crazy. It doesn't negate the content of what they're saying, though.
I follow AOC on Twitter and don't spend a lot of time "listening" to her. She reads like someone who is well-prepared, intelligent, and yes, like an intellectual leader whose ideas should control society. I've also watched her asking questions and grilling people as a Congresswoman and thought she sounded fine. She speaks like the majority of young and professional women do; she's a product of the NYC in the 21st century. Every generation has its style and its way of communicating. You're forgiven for wishing that our language and the way it's used would remain constant; you're not the first person to do so.
johngray0:
I can actually put together some thoughts without that weird injection of "like" every other word.
Why come down on me? Not my fault she got $100K education and sounds embarrassingly stupid.
https://t.co/jRv5Hc38Pu" / Twitter
https://t.co/Dseu2V5BIN" / Twitter - some video of her quizzing John Kerry, then making a speech about it.
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