The first thing every morning I need to hear a network radio newscast. I don't want to hear some local newsie reading national news and making monkey bucks. (see peanuts)
I usually catch the CBS radio news on KNX out of Los Angeles. For some stupid reason, it seems that my local San Diego stations don't carry network feeds at the top of the hour; so I don't listen.
This morning I was taking a little longer to pull myself together and listened a few minutes beyond KNX's CBS news. The local anchor began talking about the tragedy at Virginia Tech and welcomed Dr. Paul Levinson, the chair of the communications department at Fordham University in New York, to the show. Dr. Levinson brought some, I thought, worthwhile insight to NBC's airing of the killer's insane narcissistic rant and rightly criticised the brass at the network for airing it. His take on the video was essentially that it did nothing more than fulfill this nutjob's most fervent wish for fame. I think that he is correct and would also add that no matter what the "suits" at NBC say, the network was only looking to score blockbuster ratings with their exclusive scoop. (It worked.)
What detracted from Dr. Levinson's comments was his nearly constant use of "ya know" to punctuate his remarks. Is it too much to expect the head of the communications department at a major university to be articulate enough to NEVER fall back on that verbal tic? It really detracted from what he had to say. THEN...just as I was about to turn off the radio and try to just relax and chalk this gaff up to modern lazy speech, he said: "Our son just graduated college..."
Am I wrong here? Isn't this inexcusable for a person with a doctorate in communications??!! Maybe, just maybe, you would cut some slack for the head of the math department. But, the head of the communications department says, "graduated college" instead of "graduated FROM college"?! Isn't that a lot like the math chair getting his long division wrong or forgetting to carry the six when he's adding some figures?
Ya know!
ARGHHH!!!!
4 comments:
Ya knoooow, he probably thinks he's identifying with the "people" better when he talks that way. Cosby is correct and is right, as well.
Hey Ken - live with it ...
First, as you noted, I was talking about my own kids (in addition to others), and right, I got a little emotional and lapsed into a few "you knows"...
And second, in case you haven't noticed, language evolves ... graduating college is becoming increasingly common (both the act and the grammatical construction).
If the phrasing causes you such distress, try a time machine to back sometime before the 1950s, which is when this streamlined construction began...
That said, I'm happy you were able to hear through my usage and find the content of value...
Mike: actually, not.
Ken is correct. I'm tired of hearing, "Ya know what I mean?" No .. that's why I'm trying to listen to hear what you mean. If I knew what you meant, I would know what you mean with out askin'."
Mr. Levinson, you are respected, and the original barb was not intended to you -- it is the FOX-ism of news coverage in general. Ya know what I mean?
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