US Ambassador To Canada Realizes It's a Different Country

[bjarvis]

Some days you realize the line between the Associated Press and The Onion is remarkably thin.



Link: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1835&ncid=1835&e=1&u=/cpress/20051104/ca_pr_on_od/wilkins_cda&vm=r


U.S. ambassador jokes about language barrier between Canada, southern U.S. Fri Nov 4, 9:51 AM ET

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Canadians have a warmer attitude towards Americans than news reports sometimes suggest, says U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins.

In a sometimes light-hearted speech delivered in his home state of South Carolina on Thursday, Wilkins said Americans nonetheless have to be mindful of what they say. The new ambassador, who arrived in Ottawa last June, said he learned that lesson when comments he made about U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber made headlines for weeks.

"They give great importance to what we say and what we do," Wilkins said.

"Anything you say is scrutinized and given attention to," he told business leaders at the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

[bjarvis's note: Duh! You're a freakin' ambassador! Of course Canadians will be analyzing every word & action extensively: you're the representative of your government, a conduit to the policy-making bodies which profoundly affect the future of the planet! Why are you surprised? Did you not read the job description?]

The former South Carolina House speaker may have shocked his former colleagues when he greeted them in French, but he later went on to explain the language barrier also applies to English-speaking people in Canada who may not understand some Southern ways of saying things.

"There's no Canadian equivalent of 'y'all,' " Wilkins said. "So I have to explain to my Canadian friends that the plural of y'all is 'all y'all.' "

[bjarvis's note: Yes, there is a version of "y'all": it's "you." 2nd person, plural. In French, "vous."]

Wilkins also said he once spent 15 minutes explaining about a campaign event called a "peanut boil."

Things got a little clearer when the Canadian reporters he was talking to realized he wasn't saying "bowl."

[bjarvis's note: OK, you got me there. I've never heard of a peanut boil. Touché, Mr. Ambassador.]

Comments

[discord35.livejournal.com]

I haven't had boiled peanuts in a long while, but I've never heard of making an event of the process. Much less a fundraiser.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Actually, he's right on one point, as much as I hate to admit it.

In Southern (Nonstandard) English as it was spoken in central Arkansas where I spent far too many summers growing up, "y'all" = singular and small plural (up to about 3 or 4 people). "all y'all" = large plural.

This also works in parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do understand what he meant and how it is used, but the fact he used it in public is (IMHO only, of course) slightly disturbing.

The ambassador has enough problems trying to explain his government's policies to a somewhat hostile audience. Use of formal standard english can lend some subtle authority to his statements. Since every word spoken in public as a diplomat will be recorded, analyzed and played back endlessly --possibly for years-- it is even more important to chose one's words carefully, a concept which seems to have caught him by surprise. Using "y'all" and "all y'all" in public as a professional diplomat seems to betray a certain lack of class & etiquette, unless used as self-deprecating humour or parody --which may indeed have been his point.

I'm definitely over-sensitive on the language point, of course: in my childhood, the use of "y'all" along with "eh" & "ain't" are the sort of thing which would have earned me a solid knuckle-rapping from my parents as unacceptable behaviour, akin to picking one's nose in public. I cringe when I hear it from people in authority.

[rticboy.livejournal.com]

Ambassador who? He's so unbelievably low key compared to recent counterparts. I would bet that most Canadians, even in Ottawa, have never heard of him.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised. The recent dust-up over refusing to recognize NAFTA rulings (not to mention the Iraq war) have put him in a no-win situation. If I were in his shoes, I'd be very careful in my public appearances too.