<p>After watching the clip of GW kissing Joe ( Lieberman) full on the mouth
after the State of the Union speech, I’m starting to agree that Bush is just * really* friendly. 
</p>
<p>
Ha! Touche, mon ami–well said! There’s just something about a poster with antlers and a big nose that some find irrestistible.</p>
<p>driver-at last a common ground! Now we have a starting place and can hopefully achieve peace in our time.</p>
<p>I see some people are not satisfied untill they got something out of nothing.</p>
<p>What is proof that a president really likes and respect a woman? When her blue dress gets splattered with his DNA? Oh…sorry honey, guess ah missed…mah bad.</p>
<p>And I suppose Clinton never referred to Janet Reno as “Sweetmeat.”</p>
<p>No TourGuide, I think it’s when Marilyn Monroe sings happy birthday to them.</p>
<p>Welcome to 2006, this isn’t Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis</p>
<p>Times change, GW uses less formal language all the time. At the G8 once he wanted to talk to Tony Blair so he yelled out “Yo Blair”. No - I’m not making this up, google it if you want. The BBC made a huge deal out of it lol.</p>
<p>Less formal language= appeal to the “common folk”, the undereducated, of which America has more than its fair share.</p>
<p>Or perhaps just the less pretentious. Get in touch with your inner flyover country.</p>
<p>I believe the context and import of what The BBC labeled as the ‘Yo Blair’ converstaion was President Bush’s statement to Prime Minister Blair " We have to stop Hezbollah from doing this *****". </p>
<p>Perhaps more to the point, I would also note that was a PRIVATE conversation albeit there was an open mike President Bush was not aware of. The issue presented by this thread is the choice of words in a public setting, a formal news conference covered by worldwide press, addressing a MAJOR world crisis. To that end, a point getting lost in all this is how this is seen by the rest of the world and our enemies when our envoy is casually referred to as “Condi” and given the threshold issue of how the middle-eastern world views a woman being sent there as our representative.</p>
<p>Words matter. They matter alot-something about the pen being mightier than the sword I think was once said. This is not understood by this administration; and there ain’t nothin’ folksy about the folks we are dealing with over there.</p>
<p>“Words matter. They matter a lot”</p>
<p>It may now be appropriate to reflect on the simple wisdom of a parent instructing their child to close their little eyes and repeat, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”… “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me…”</p>
<p>On the other hand, there are those of a more churlish disposition who will, appropriate to age, either continue to run off and tell mom or, later in life, harrumph-harrumph into squeaky-high dudgeon. :)</p>
<p>well, with post #71 I guess we’ve now reached the final stage of condescension (or is it Condisention), trivializing and dismissal as Kluge alluded to.</p>
<p>Thanks for proving the point that words matter. When is the last time you used the word “dudgeon”. Give me a break.</p>
<p>Come on Bullwinkle, don’t be a hater. It’s OK to admit that Fountain lives on a higher intellectual plane.:p</p>
<p>Come on you silly moose, </p>
<p>dudgeon was word of the day on August 30, 2000. Remember? <a href=“Word of the Day - jalopy | Dictionary.com”>Word of the Day - jalopy | Dictionary.com;
The 6th anniversary is just around the corner. Kind of exciting!</p>
<p>I could have used today’s word–piebald: means mottled–just as well, but high dudgeon just seemed so dead-on…and more common. Besides, it’s been around at least 6 years that I know of–maybe even longer, who knows: it’s a big bushy word (not to be confused with Bush-world–so chill). <a href=“Word of the Day - jalopy | Dictionary.com”>Word of the Day - jalopy | Dictionary.com;
<p>Did you know piebald/skewbald is a breed of horse?
( I love that word)
<a href=“http://www.theipsa.com/definition.htm[/url]”>http://www.theipsa.com/definition.htm</a></p>
<p>I did not…I owe you one EK4; and I agree, it’s a sweet word–Beautiful horse.</p>