The Great Slate Debate

Sarah Palin Minces Words


Forgot to wear her diagram

Remember grammar diagrams? (Non-Baby Boomers are probably scratching their heads at this point.) No? Well, check out these grammar diagrams from Slate.com that deconstruct Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's public speaking solicisms from her televised debate and Katie Couric interview (thanks go to my friend Reggie Harris's blog for posting this first!).

Read: "Diagramming Sarah" by Kitty Burns Florey at Slate.com



(Ms. Florey is the author of the wonderful Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences, 2006.)

Idiotic Pentameter

See also Hart Seely transformation of Sarah-speak into free-form poetry: "The Poetry of Sarah Palin". It becomes obvious that Palin is fluent in Fargo-ese.

Some highlights:

"On Good and Evil"

It is obvious to me
Who the good guys are in this one
And who the bad guys are.
The bad guys are the ones
Who say Israel is a stinking corpse,
And should be wiped off
The face of the earth.

That's not a good guy.

(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)

"Haiku"

These corporations.
Today it was AIG,
Important call, there.

(To S. Hannity, Fox News, Sept. 18, 2008)

"On Reporters"

It's funny that
A comment like that
Was kinda made to,
I don't know,
You know ...

Reporters.

(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)

Related Links:
Drill, Baby, Drill: Palin's Grammar Hurts My Ears