Thursday, June 17, 2010

Too professorial? Ouch.

I guess speech directed toward a second semester high school freshman is "professorial."

Thanks to Dr. Davis for calling our attention to this story:

Language guru: Obama speech too 'professorial' for his target audience
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 17, 2010 10:23 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.
Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House was written to a 9.8 grade level, said Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. The Austin, Texas-based company analyzes and catalogues trends in word usage and word choice and their impact on culture.

Though the president used slightly less than four sentences per paragraph, his 19.8 words per sentence "added some difficulty for his target audience," Payack said.

To read the rest of the article and see a clip of the speech, click here.

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