...which is probably enough for the feeble opposition to declare him to be an "elitist" again.

Pretentious pricks, the lot of them. I got at least 12th grade level and another 30 years of the University of Life.

I copied each full transcript into separate Word documents.



"Are you trying to fix the @!#$%#@s from the last president?"

Well, if I were the president, I think I would try to keep my comments at the lowest level that would still allow me to accurately explain my ideas -- just for the simple reason that I would want as many people as possible to understand what I'm talking about.

But that's just me. I don't necessarily attribute that line of reasoning to Bush.

"um, my bottom line is that, um"

Secret Agent X23: Well, if I were the president, I think I would try to keep my comments at the lowest level that would still allow me to accurately explain my ideas -- just for the simple reason that I would want as many people as possible to understand what I'm talking about.

But that's just me. I don't necessarily attribute that line of reasoning to Bush.

I don't think it is beneficial to the level of discourse to be at the lowest common denominator.

Wow, he's smarter than Bush, and at least as articulate as a sophomore. Truly inspirational.

/I believe I have the vapors.

Word has a "readability" tool??

I learned something new today!

Yeah, but Obama pre-empted Chuck.

Chuck blows. Get real taste in TV.

This isn't really a helpful thing though. What's the baseline for world leaders? US Presidents? Public speakers?

absoluteparanoia: Chuck blows. Get real taste in TV.



\Chuck is awesome

The Icelander: absoluteparanoia: Chuck blows. Get real taste in TV.



\Chuck is awesome

Indeed. Love Chuck.

So? The average American reads at an 8th or 9th grade level BFD.

I copy and pasted that guys article.

It was 9th grade level.

absoluteparanoia: Chuck blows. Get real taste in TV.

You're dead to me.

corsec67: "um, my bottom line is that, um"

Totally. I miss the good old days.

"...fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."

If I remember correctly the US Army requires its manuals to be written at the third grade level. When dealing with lethal objects sometimes simple is good.

This thread is now about how stupid Chuck is.

Hollywood Cole: So? The average American reads at an 8th or 9th grade level BFD.

I was telling my wife at the press conference that Obama was speaking over people. I cringed when he said "bellacose language" when talking about Iran. He could have said aggresive.

You should not use greater than 8th grade language when speaking to the American public. In Canada, I am not allowed to use language beyond 8th grade literacy when I write briefing notes to seniour management (seriously).

mrshowrules: Hollywood Cole: So? The average American reads at an 8th or 9th grade level BFD.

I was telling my wife at the press conference that Obama was speaking over people. I cringed when he said "bellacose language" when talking about Iran. He could have said aggresive.

You should not use greater than 8th grade language when speaking to the American public. In Canada, I am not allowed to use language beyond 8th grade literacy when I write briefing notes to seniour management (seriously).

Yes, because you are talking up to senior management. Senior management does not have to dumb down their language for subordinates.

Similarly, the top executive in this country shouldn't need to either. I'm tired of being talked down to. We should encourage people to use their vocabularies and to value speaking at a 10th grade level.

I was always told my writing professors to shoot for 10th grade level in your writing. Any higher (12th) and your audience is only experts, and lower and your audience is only idiots.

Do people with comprehension levels below 10th grade actually watch presidential press conferences?

I think most just tune in to hear what Rush thinks about them.

Lionel Mandrake: Do people with comprehension levels below 10th grade actually watch presidential press conferences?

I think most just tune in to hear what Rush thinks about them.

most newspapers are written at an 8th grade level. interestingly, most newspapers are not read primarily by 8th graders, but by people that want to be able to easily digest the daily news over coffee.

I didn't understand either one of them.

corsec67: "um, my bottom line is that, um"

He did seem to be using a lot of 'ums', 'you knows' and other
filler.

But, at least it seemed like he was actually thinking while
fumfering, not waiting for the secret radio transmitter in his
ear to feed him his lines.

Father Jack Hacket: I copy and pasted that guys article.

It was 9th grade level.

Heh. First I've ever heard of this feature. This could be fun....

absoluteparanoia: This thread is now about how stupid awesome Chuck is.

FTFY

absoluteparanoia: mrshowrules: Hollywood Cole: So? The average American reads at an 8th or 9th grade level BFD.

I was telling my wife at the press conference that Obama was speaking over people. I cringed when he said "bellacose language" when talking about Iran. He could have said aggresive.

You should not use greater than 8th grade language when speaking to the American public. In Canada, I am not allowed to use language beyond 8th grade literacy when I write briefing notes to seniour management (seriously).

Yes, because you are talking up to senior management. Senior management does not have to dumb down their language for subordinates.

Similarly, the top executive in this country shouldn't need to either. I'm tired of being talked down to. We should encourage people to use their vocabularies and to value speaking at a 10th grade level.

I was always told my writing professors to shoot for 10th grade level in your writing. Any higher (12th) and your audience is only experts, and lower and your audience is only idiots.

I'm not sure about that. His target audience is people worried/impacted by economic problems. I thing he should have brought it down at least a notch. I loved his "did you think I was all ginned'up" line. That was great.

He was amazing in his press conference despite the odd "bellacose". I had to look that up today and I thought I was the smrt.

The Icelander: absoluteparanoia: This thread is now about how stupid awesome Chuck is.

FTFY

hot women are hot. but they are a stupid reason to watch network television.

thomps: hot women are hot. but they are a stupid reason to watch network television.

Seems like a pretty good reason to me, especially when you couple it with fun action, entertaining characters, and campy writing.

Lionel Mandrake: Totally. I miss the good old days.

"...fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."

This phrase automatically subtracts 5 grade levels from the analysis.

DamnYankees: Seems like a pretty good reason to me, especially when you couple it with fun action, entertaining characters, and campy writing.

i've never seen the show and have no opinion of it. i just see that "well it's got hot girls in it" defense of television shows a lot and it confuses me because staring at fully clothed women on network television for half an hour is not in itself entertaining. call me jaded, but that's a little like recommending a porn because it's got awesome dialog.

DamnYankees: thomps: hot women are hot. but they are a stupid reason to watch network television.

Seems like a pretty good reason to me, especially when you couple it with fun action, entertaining characters, and campy writing.

It's the Office in a Best Buy mixed with get smart. It's retarded and I refuse to watch it.

"Ohh look, the dorky office drone--will get the hot girl? Tune in next week as they get close!"

Formulaic, stupid, and an insult to the word "camp".

mrshowrules
I was telling my wife at the press conference that Obama was speaking over people. I cringed when he said "bellacose language" when talking about Iran. He could have said aggresive.

You should not use greater than 8th grade language when speaking to the American public. In Canada, I am not allowed to use language beyond 8th grade literacy when I write briefing notes to seniour management

I reject the claim that we should dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator. If people can't understand a little higher than 8th grade language, too bad. They should try learning a little instead of expecting society to meet them at their level of ignorance.

Besides, occasionally seeing or hearing a word you don't know well is a good thing. You can usually figure out roughly what it means from the context, it helps expand your vocabulary, and if you really want to know more, look it up. Instead people whine that so and so is an elitist who uses those big, fancy words. Wow, 10th grade words... really setting the bar high there, huh?

Politicians today dumb it down so much because people are so farking lazy. If they hear a word they don't know or actually have to think for a few seconds about the argument being presented because it's not a crystal clear, black or white, bullet point answer, they tune out. Nevermind that any issue worth discussing is far too complicated to have a good response that fits in a sound bite.

Compare today's public dialogue to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The level of dumbing down that's occurred is incredible. It's far more than the vocabulary. It's the complexity of the arguments being presented. Some would say that most people who heard the Lincoln-Douglas debates therefore didn't understand them, but writer Neil Postman argues the opposite pretty convincingly in Amusing Ourselves to Death. People generally understood and were not put off by that level of discourse.

/rant off
//bellicose is not a very unusual word

mrshowrules: He was amazing in his press conference despite the odd "bellacose". I had to look that up today and I thought I was the smrt.

Just FYI, its bellicose. And I thought that was a 7th grade vocab word. Just because it flew over your head because you missed that one on the test doesn't mean it flew over everyone's head.

I didn't know Word had a readability score, but I see the grade level simply plugs the following variables into a formula:

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words)

Not much to it.

patrick767: I reject the claim that we should dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator. If people can't understand a little higher than 8th grade language, too bad. They should try learning a little instead of expecting society to meet them at their level of ignorance.

Besides, occasionally seeing or hearing a word you don't know well is a good thing. You can usually figure out roughly what it means from the context, it helps expand your vocabulary, and if you really want to know more, look it up. Instead people whine that so and so is an elitist who uses those big, fancy words. Wow, 10th grade words... really setting the bar high there, huh?

Politicians today dumb it down so much because people are so farking lazy. If they hear a word they don't know or actually have to think for a few seconds about the argument being presented because it's not a crystal clear, black or white, bullet point answer, they tune out. Nevermind that any issue worth discussing is far too complicated to have a good response that fits in a sound bite.

Compare today's public dialogue to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The level of dumbing down that's occurred is incredible. It's far more than the vocabulary. It's the complexity of the arguments being presented. Some would say that most people who heard the Lincoln-Douglas debates therefore didn't understand them, but writer Neil Postman argues the opposite pretty convincingly in Amusing Ourselves to Death. People generally understood and were not put off by that level of discourse.

just so you know, your rant was rated at the 8th grade level, yet it was direct and persuasive. i don't mind being spoken to at an 8th grade level; i mind when i'm being spoken down to as if i were an 8th grader (e.g. "they hate us for our freedom"). i don't appreciate obama for his syntax, i appreciate him for speaking frankly and directly about the issues we are facing as a nation.

I like words.

absoluteparanoia:
Just FYI, its bellicose. And I thought that was a 7th grade vocab word.

You thought wrong moron.

impaler: absoluteparanoia:
Just FYI, its bellicose. And I thought that was a 7th grade vocab word.

You thought wrong moron.

I guess I had english teachers who cared.

absoluteparanoia: I guess I had english teachers who cared.
No, you just had a teacher that eschewed another word for bellicose.

President Bush should get the gold star. After all, 7th grade is a big step up for him.

Someone, somewhere, used an arbitrary test to prove Obama is better than Bush!

Quick, to the Romero sub, so we can get this into the internet tubes!!one1!

I think they're probably right. I remember throwing in a lot of 'uh's when I spoke in 10th grade.

No YOU'RE a Towel
I don't think it is beneficial to the level of discourse to be at the lowest common denominator.

But it is a press conference, so talking to journalists, i can see that being an important point.

DeadZone: Someone, somewhere, used an arbitrary test to prove Obama is better than Bush!

Yes, but they're both tied on respiration.

Reading "bellicose" spelled "bellacose" made me cringe.

I think it is funny how bush has dropped off the face of the earth after leaving office.

thomps: DamnYankees: Seems like a pretty good reason to me, especially when you couple it with fun action, entertaining characters, and campy writing.

i've never seen the show and have no opinion of it. i just see that "well it's got hot girls in it" defense of television shows a lot and it confuses me because staring at fully clothed women on network television for half an hour is not in itself entertaining. call me jaded, but that's a little like recommending a porn because it's got awesome dialog.

Ah, but Chuck also has a Baldwin. The funny one, from Firefly. That's one more point in the awesome column.

scifarker: I think it is funny how bush has dropped off the face of the earth after leaving office.

I think it'd have been funnier if it had happened earlier.