Language quiz!

Yes, that favorite part of the world of Sententiae for one or two of you, I hope, is back. Watch this sad-sweet little animated video. Here is the quiz:

Without looking at the credits at the end, what language does the granddad speak?

hint: it is not a language from the Caucasus

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Update on the linguist post

That last post, about the bogus linguist?

Apparently Andrew Sullivan got to it to, linking to an article by A REAL LINGUIST who finds that Kathleen Parker and the pseudo-analysis of Obama's language she relies on are both ... well, bunk. Parker finds it "feminine" that Obama used the passive voice so much. Based on this she wrote a column claiming Obama as our first female president (coming from a female, this is hilarious on more levels than you might suppose)..

But I did just make a quick analysis of president George W. Bush's post-Katrina address to the nation. I count 142 sentences, 25 of which contained one or more passive-voice tensed verb constructions. That's 17.6%. Doing the same thing with Barack Obama's post-oil-spill address, I count 135 sentences, 15 of which contain one or more passive-voice tensed verb constructions. That's 11.1%.

Which would make George a .... woman? Well, I have to admit, that is one thing I never supposed he was.

where is a world analyst when we need one?

Bogus linguist but a nice job title

Do you remember the story that Obama's speech on the oil spill was written at a 10th grade level, and thus an example of elitist contempt for the average American, who was not able to follow it?

If only.

The "linguist" who did this analysis is not really a professional linguist. In fact, he simply passes himself off as an expert on something or other based on having a Harvard degree. Which he did not really get, though he did take some courses in comparative literature from the Harvard extension program.

But what the heck. That's good enough for CNN. Read about it here. I thought that was supposed to be a liberal media network. Oh well.

To be fair, the guy swears he has never claimed to be a linguist. He is the "chief word analyst" for his company." Honest.

now Kathleen Parker is relying on him. A shame. She's so much cuter than Maureen Dowd.

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