Bertie - did he just say "Renovations"?!!!

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Audrey

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Listening to Bertie making his apology (RTE1 news) I'm sure he referred to the "renovations" of the last week or so (rather than 'revelations')! In the name of God, can he utter one sentence without putting his foot in it? He also said last week that he wanted to make a distinction between certain payments to previous Ministers/leaders and the payments to him, but he (of course, being Bertie) said he wanted to make a "distinkment"!! Leaving aside the matter of the monies he received, do we really want to have a man of this 'distinkment' like this leading this country?
 

Yes you really would think that Michael McDowell would have corrected all of Bertie's spelling and grammar mistakes before letting him speak.
I mean this man sets himself up as the government watch dog and yet he just sits back and allows such terrible pronunciation take place.

I don't think it really it matters how he speaks. In fairness Pat Rabitte is a good speaker but yet wants to bring the Celtic Tiger to an end through high taxation etc. Garrett Fitzgerald was very well spoken and he made a mess of things. Funnily enough I think that Bertie's slightly working class accent appeals to a lot of people in the same way that Bush's stupidity appeals to a lot of Americans. In the UK I think that prime ministers are generally expected to be public (private) school boy types but that doesn't seem to have the same appeal here.
 
What I heard him say was "Relevations"?? instead of "Revelations" - a mispronounciation which couldn't have been anticipated. Open to correction BTW.

Bertie-speak is Bertie-speak, dis dat, dese, dem and dose but since his accent and mispronounciations haven't been an obstacle to his career (perhaps the opposite) it should encourage anyone who speaks with a less than PC accent. I'd far prefer his accent to the "Dort" one which is so phoney and unoriginal. He's also left handed I've noticed and has a touch of a stammer. Maybe a form of dyslexia. One of the best laughs I ever had (not malicious, just funny) was a "Bertie/Taoiseach Diary" written in Bertie-speak in Phoenix magazine.

I agree it's not so much how we speak (have to be careful here!) but what is contained in our speech. Have to admit to being somewhat allergic of Enda Kenny's laborious preachy voice which always sounds (to me) like a lecture being given to children. That's apart from the absence of policies. He is an improvement on his predecessor however.
 
I completely agree with all who say that ones accent isn't really important. Bertie's accent is one thing (ting!), but I was talking about his grasp of the language itself. Renovations, relevations, revelations - it doesn't really matter - the important thing is that he doesn't seem to know which word is correct! Just as he didn't know that there's no such word as distinkness. I don't want him to have a Dort accent, or any other accent, I just want him not to sound like such a gobsh*te basically! Is that too much to ask of ones leader? Don't you think he's a slight embarrassment out there in the big bad world? (The very fact that George Dubya Bush has been mentioned in the same breath speaks volumes!)
 
sherib said:
Have to admit to being somewhat allergic of Enda Kenny's laborious preachy voice which always sounds (to me) like a lecture being given to children. That's apart from the absence of policies.
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Substitute Pat Rabbitte for Enda Kenny above for equal effect.
 
ClubMan said:
Substitute Pat Rabbitte for Enda Kenny above for equal effect.
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Whereas Bertie sounds like one of the children being lectured to!!
In any event (or, as Bertie would say, "inennyways") as most of you seem to be of the opinion that the correct use of the language by the leader of our country is neither necessary nor desirable (one poster thinks it might even be to Bertie's advantage to be a bit of a dunce!) then I'll admit defeat, accept that we do indeed get the Government that many of us deserve (Gawd help us), and go back to watching de t-t-t-telly or b-b-better still start searchin' undur de bed in case I might have left fifty t-t-tousand (give or take) lyin' around der turteen years ago when I'd had a bad hair day and me pals had a whip around to make me feel b-b-b-b-better! If I don't find ennyting der sure I can always send de hat around. (De ten gallon hat of course)!
 
Audrey said:
as most of you seem to be of the opinion that the correct use of the language by the leader of our country is neither necessary nor desirable
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Not "most" - two posters out of four to date expressed opinions along those lines. That's 50%.
 
ClubMan said:
Not "most" - two posters out of four to date expressed opinions along those lines. That's 50%.
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STOP PRESS. I was wrong when I said "most". I was in fact wrong by a full percentage point. 51% would be "most" but as Clubman quite rightly points out 50% is not "most". I'm every bit as guilty as poor Bertie and I apologise to the house and to the people.

Now, as I was saying about getting what we deserve.....
 
I did cringe when Bertie mentioned that the guy who handed him the money 'ownded' the hotel that they were partying in!
 
No - he's not innumerate as far as I know.
 
"To all intensive purposes"...where have I heard that before? On a serious note, I have a relation who had this problem (pronunciation). It was the bane of her mother's life as no matter what the woman did, her daughter could not repeat the words correctly. Many years later, the girl, now a mother, had a hearing test. She'd had many before but this time she was told that she can't hear a certain pitch and that this worsens as we age. The specialist told her the best way to describe the result of this type of hearing impediment is, verbal dyslexia!

Who knows? If the bell is tolling for Bertie......sure he might not be able to hear it!!
 
sherib said:
He's also left handed I've noticed and has a touch of a stammer. Maybe a form of dyslexia.
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Can't help thinking that that stammer has been used by The Bert over the years to buy him that split second when responding under pressure. He is after all the most clever, most cunning of them all.

Don't think he's ever been known to stammer in Fagan's - maybe the Bass helps?

At least he's not consigned to the hanging baskets prematurely after today.

Roy
 
Bertie may be bad enough, but the 'leader of the Free World' can't even pronounce the word 'NUCLEAR' correctly.
Scary really, considering he has his finger on the 'NUCULAR' button!
 
Sorry, the percentage is less . I didn't say the correct use of language is neither necessary or desirable. Of course it's desirable but it's evidently not always necessary if someone can reach the top of their profession in spite of being severely challenged in the areas of annunciation and pronounciation. Some might call that overcoming a handicap. I don't think he's "a dunce" either but, if he is, can anyone tell me when the next course in "duncery" begins? I expect it would be full time but does anyone know how many years it takes to qualify?

Originally posted by Onekeano
Can't help thinking that that stammer has been used by The Bert over the years to buy him that split second when responding under pressure.
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You could be right about that. I remember a classmate whose stammer always got much worse when asked questions. I could never for the life of me decide whether he was putting it on to get himself out of a corner or was stammering due to being in a stressful situation. Anyhow I gave him the benefit of the doubt but don't think it cut much ice with the examiners.

PS This is top secret and in confidence. The name of Bertie's Bank was "Friends First".
 
I don't think he's "a dunce" either but, if he is, can anyone tell me when the next course in "duncery" begins? I expect it would be full time but does anyone know how many years it takes to qualify?
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Probably the same length of time it takes to become an Accountant??
 
He does NOT have a stammer - that's official. How do I know? Because when he reads from a script, or from an article or from anything that's written and cannot be changed, he never hesitates!! Voila!! The reason he pretends to stammer and hesitate when he's talking off the cuff is in order to give his brain time to think about what his mouth is going to do next! It's a cunning plan! Seems to have fooled a few of you, but hopefully not the majority (ie over 50%!) of the voters come the elections.
 
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