Newsvine – White House: No Cover-Up of Bush’s Flub:
Anyone reading the official transcript of Bush’s statement on education Wednesday would see that he said “children do learn.”
Except that’s not what he said.
Bush flubbed the line and said “childrens do learn” — a particularly embarrassing gaffe given that he was surrounded by young students and talking about the importance of education. It also harkened back to another infamous misstatement, when Bush rhetorically asked “Is our children learning?”
I heard this on the radio (NPR I think). I almost had a bad experience with my coffee when I heard it.
Think of those poor transcribers. Presumably, they’re pretty good with their words. I wonder how hard it is to write with bad English on purpose. I this case, I wonder if they didn’t just key in the sentence correctly by mistake. I wonder if it’s something they’re warned about when they take this particular job.
“Forget everything you learned about English in elementary school, and just type what you hear. I know you already know this. I know you’re used to people saying strange things, but the boss takes it to another level, so look sharp people!”