Oh Stewardess, I Speak Jive

In the interest of being fair, I decided to watch McCain's speech last Thursday. I have to admit, it was everything that I expected, which is not a good thing. As a matter of fact, the thing that stuck out in my mind the most was the fact that McCain constantly pronounced Washington as "Warshington," as if it has an r in it. I understand that people from different parts of the country speak with different accents and inflections. However, I consider it to be completely ridiculous that anyone would pronounce the name of our nation's capital in such an absurd manner. 

Anyways, I was reminded of different types of accents and dialects when I read a recent blog entry by our friend Lisa, who lives in New Zealand. She has been down there for about a year and we have spoken to her a couple of times. Each time we speak, she brings up the different ways that Kiwis express themselves, which usually puts a smile on our faces. Her post is very amusing and it has led me to realize that I was perhaps being a little too hard on McCain. However, I still expect him to correct the way he pronounces the name of Washington, D.C. and say it like a normal person. 

Also, here is the classic clip from Airplane! that highlights a particular American dialect: