President Obama has admitted that he doesn't. Speak Austrian, that is. Which is perfectly understandable considering it isn\'t even a real language . :rolleyes:

Can you imagine the reaction if Bush had said this??

PJ

Oh dear. Politicians without a teleprompter. And here I thought the next four years would be a little more boring. :p

JD

Well, technically Austria has its own regional dialects, even if they're not called Austrian.

Doesn't that language only contain the words "I'll be back"?

Don't forget "Hasta la vista, baby"

My personal favorite take on this was from Best of the Web, which suggested that the reference to "Austrian" was a subtle reference to the US's role in WWII, because, after all, if the US hadn't gotten involved, the Austrians today would almost certainly be speaking German.

PJ

ROFLOL!!! Austrian, indeed. Do you reckon Pres. Obama can speak Australian?

Oh, and did y'all know that the US now has 57 states (according to Pres. Obama)?

Two things strike me about this presidential gaffe. First, if George Bush had said this, the US media would have pilloried him. Barack Obama says it and it's an embarrassed grin and on to the sports.

The second thing is that anyone - and I mean anyone - who speaks publicly will eventually say something totally inane or even stupid, irrespective of his or her intelligence or achievement or position. It's just part of being human, and I don't think we should whack the President too hard over this stuff. I don't think we should ignore it, either, but knowing how to spell "potato(e)" won't make one iota of difference during wartime or serious economic troubles.

Excellent points, Terry, both of them.

But then again, it's been frustrating watching Bush (or Palin, or other conservatives) get pounced on and derided over awkward phrasing or slips of the tongue, so now it's kind of a "sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander" kind of thing. Slate had "Bushisms of the Day" for years; Hot Air is now doing "Obamateurisms of the Day." Fair's fair.

Btw, for those who haven't heard, President Obama hopes you had a good "Cinco de cuatro" Never heard of it? Neither has anyone else...

PJ

Yeah, I can see Pres. Obama having a slip of the tongue when he said he'd been to 57 states, but the one about speaking "Austrian" is a little more serious. This man should know enough about the world to know what languages most countries speak. I think this is especially true of Austria because it played such an important role in "The Great War" later renamed WWI when the next big war was dubbed WWII (World War II). It also played a big role in WWII. I'd think that a US citizen should know enough about these wars to know that Austrians speak German. Then there is also the fact that much of the US was settled by European immigrants. That's another reason that Pres. Obama should at the very least be familiar with the languages of western Europe.

But then maybe I only know that Austrians speak German because I've been there... Nah, I don't really think so. I also know that those Brazilians speak Spanish.

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And that was a joke for those of you who didn't get it. Brazilians speak Portuguese.

I've never been to Austria, but I have seen The Sound of Music, so I knew that Austrians speak German.

I also knew that Brazilians speak Portuguese, and I've never been there either.