The following is reprinted from Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency Forty-two men have occupied the office of U.S. president; if each one made only one mistake or misspoke just once during his time in office, we'd already have a substantial collection of presidential faux pas. Fortunately for the cynics among us, most of these men have made more than a few boo-boos over the years. A few of our favorites bear special mention: Franklin Delano Roosevelt served hot dogs to the king and queen of England on their state visit. Here's hoping they served him bangers and mash when he crossed the pond! Harry S. Truman was known as a no-nonsense straight shooter whose desk bore a sign reading, "The buck stops here." While running for reelection, he told a campaign-stop crowd, "I don't give 'em hell, I just tell the truth and they think it's hell," which led to his nickname: "Give 'em hell Harry." Dwight D. Eisenhower was asked by a journalist what significant decisions his vice president, Richard Nixon, had helped him make. "If you give me a week I might think of one," he replied. (He later apologized to Nixon). John F. Kennedy wins the award for the "gaffe that never was," his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. For years the media and the public believed that Kennedy had misspoken, saying "I am a jelly doughnut" (a Berliner is indeed a type of Berlin jam-filled pastry) instead of "I am a citizen of Berlin." However experts now say that Kennedy did speak correctly, so there's a little jam on the face of his critics. On September 16, 1968, Richard Milhous Nixon, in an effort to appeal to the young people, made campaign history on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the hippie-esque sketch comedy television show. During a fast-paced montage sequence, this president with the stuffed-shirt persona appeared and cried out the show's most famous catchphrase, "Sock it to me!" Gerald Ford was prone to all manner of physical gaffes, from locking himself out of the White House to tripping and falling down the steps of Air Force One during a visit to Austria. His clumsiness was famously parodied by comedian Chevy Chase on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Jimmy Carter caused a minor scandal when he admitted in a Playboy interview that he had "lusted after women" in his heart. Most Playboy readers instantly agreed that they had, too. Testing the microphone during what he thought was a sound check before a radio address, Ronald Reagan joked, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." Only he didn't realize that they were broadcasting. The joke fell flat with Cold War-era listeners. George H.W. Bush declared that he disliked broccoli and scores of irate farmers sent bushels of the green stuff his way. He stuck to his guns, saying "I'm the president and I don't have to eat broccoli if I don't want to." Bill Clinton created a minor scandal dubbed "Hair Force One." He received a $200 haircut from celeb stylist Christophe on Air Force One, reportedly shutting down two runways at Los Angeles International Airport for an hour, at an estimated cost to airlines of $76,000. George W. Bush has made plenty of grammatical gaffes, but one of his biggest missteps was when, believing his microphone was off, he turned to Vice President Dick Cheney and pointed out a reporter by calling him a "major league a**hole." It's a good thing his mom Barbara Bush wasn't there, he'd have found his mouth filled with soap - in a major league way. |
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| The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency. This book is jam-packed with everything you could ever want to know about the highest office in the United States ... you'll find the slogans and smears, the legends and lore, the people and places, and the digs and the dirt - everything about the U.S. Presidency bound up in one book. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute | |
The author seems to have a non-standard definition of "gaffe."
He often says he is a citizen of Frankfurt and Hamburg as well.
:)
For those of you that don't know the joys of Eddie Izzard, he is a comedian, but also a transvestite as well.
Had Mark Twain said it, it would have been the pinnacle of wit. But Dub had zero idea how his words came across. As the guy in "Spinal Tap" puts it, "There's a fine line between genius and stupid."
This reminds me of the Chevy Nova story. In high school we asked out Spanish teacher about the Chevy Nova, meaning "it doesn't go" in Spanish and she yelled at us. She claimed that was pure racism. Nova is a Spanish word meaning Nova- a star going Nova. She said in Mexico they used to joke that buying Notable Furniture meant you weren't getting a table. haw haw. Any English speaker knows that we don't confuse "no table" and notable.
It's nothing but ugly americanism to think Germans or Spanish speakers aren't also as sophisticated as we are.
It is absolutely correct german calling yourself as being a Berliner and that what your german teacher told you makes no sense.
The inhabitants of the town Hamburg are called Hamburger, and no one will think of them as being some kind of McDonals sandwich :-)
another example: in german a condom is also known as a "Pariser", but if some french is telling me "Ich bin ein Pariser" I'm not asking him if he has a strawberry or a banana flavor :-))
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702090015