59:55 And he's got the Joe Biden smile, and he is a charmer. He can probably...He is pretty good at sales. Vote Trump! Check the shoes make sure they're brown. You know we made some fun of dropping the T's I got a note from an anonymous linguistics professor from a well-known University on the West Coast who asked to be kept anonymous And now it was kind of interesting from a linguistics... He's at university, he has to be anonymous. Of course he does! I think he is pretty young too, he only had his PhD for couple years
1:00:44 But, he says that... well he was trying to give us a warning and he did start right off by saying hey just so you know these are not intended as accusations or attacks but I said has a background of a PhD in linguistics. I'd be happy to follow up we did have it back and forth but he said that no actually i'll read from it Noah Jenna deals so much with language, I thought it would send a note of caution regarding how certain types of speech are ridiculed slash highlighted on the show. Oh yeah. Language... What?
1:01:22 Languages change and evolve inevitably. What dialect is correct, standard or prestigious is related to political sociological factors and are not an objective standard of correctness." Now I'm going to pause here for a second because I did go back-and-forth with him he was He thought that the way I responded, that I was defending an attack and I was pissed off which I wasn't because he said right up front it's not an attack. But what I was concerned about is here is a linguistics professor who listens to no agenda who is stating these things as fact And that's what he has been taught and that's what he studied on so...I just disagree with everything
1:02:03 He goes on, the reason I'm a bit concerned is that most of the speech that is targeted for ridicule... ...is generally associated with female or non-white speakers. And of course he says immediately, I do not believe you are sexist or racist at least no more than any of us are! That pissed me off Most of these attitudes about language are subconscious but still present and he says I want to stop I don't want to stop the read, but I want to stop sure right away Because for example in today's show we have been ridiculing someone who says look all the time who is a white male
1:02:44 No, well that a female I made this point to him and I'll tell you what he came back with but I want to continue because the learning What he's been taught is in his original note He says I don't think much of this humor will age. Well in the next few years which by the way is kind of Insulting to say that that's what you when you go back and say well this tweet aged. Well Yeah Okay I don't think much of this humor will age well in the next few years as people become a bit more aware of the science. In other words, and I like this guy because we went back and forth. I'm fine with him. I'm not angry at him. I'm sad about what he's been taught what he thinks is science or what he's been told...I don't know! I'm not a professor but it's according to him its science. I think that type of commentary might be alienating or offending more people than you think Or at least I predict it will become more salient in the near future
1:03:44 Making fun of a non-native English speaker who is Dutch is very different than making fun of a non white immigrant in the US or elsewhere. For the hypothetical... yeah, well you know like I do the Dutch thing so it's... So I know that but I don't see if one's not offensive why? Why is one offensive and one isn't? Exactly! Like many of the topics you discuss on this show, oil media etc., language is a major tool of power internationally. Listen to this! This isn't...this isn't important. Like many other topics you discuss on this show, language is a major tool of power internationally and English plays a role it is a completely unequal playing ground linguistically
1:04:24 Language is one of the last ways people can get away with discrimination in the real world without being called out. I guarantee you what's going to happen next, John. Speaking English is racist! It's coming and it is part of the patriarchy You speak English? You have an unfair advantage While I think there is far more than enough evidence to discourage it out of human kindness and empathy, I think that the direct societal repercussions are coming. For examples... Here's where you got your prediction! For examples of specific linguistic features that are discussed on occasion on no agenda are vocal fry and tea dropping
1:05:13 While not exclusively a female feature, Vocal Fry is associated with younger female speakers. No! The first time we played it was the Berklee Hummer And that's what we called her, the Berkeley Hummer Jill Abramson who by far is young. She is not young! How old is Jill Abramson? She's not young she's in her 60s. Yeah so that's where it started and I think we said that this is more of a milieu issue... Anyway I'll continue Yes we do Billy, by the way you should stop right there and remind people that that's what we're dealing with here is milieu, not any sort of social economic anything. It's milieu! You have a bunch of people together and they all vocal fry in the up talk
1:06:04 And they have that screwy or weird cadences like everybody in the Obama administration. We noticed the cadence that everybody in the administration had, it was a dang-dee bang-da-bang kind of sound Or the one you just pointed out with Chelsea These are all milieus that we're dealing with which apparently the linguistic department doesn't give a shit about and it's the same like Trump and Johnson dropping sentences, non sequiturs. It's also a milieu of nut jobs in their own way and we make fun of that too so again on one hand yes to many listeners it can sound annoying I personally think it's funny but there are also social political and power issues related he does a lot of slash I should have read every single time...I don't know if this is a university thing but... Milieu
1:06:57 Yes, exactly. I'll read the slashes because he uses that all the time as if maybe I should choose... I don't know if you're a linguistics professor shouldn't you use language? Again on one hand yes to many listeners it can sound annoying but there are also social slash political slash power issues related to slash driving slash underlying the change Asking ourselves why is that feature annoying but the other one isn't is a worthwhile exercise I find it all annoying. Similarly with tea dropping, it is simply an ongoing change and not incorrect speech if you put- No stop!
1:07:38 We have, when we first started commenting on the tea dropping in Po-ant Putin is the first one that really caught our attention. The woman did that quit because she hated poop and then she worked for RT. And by the way shouldn't we all try to pronounce people's names in their native pronunciation? Isn't that the idea I've never heard a Russian say Poo-an No, so especially with names it's just that is incorrect but okay I digress by the way So I'm watching Ted Okay. Let me get back to where was I going? I was headed to the oh yes dropping the T's yeah very early on when we started to drop in the tease situation and we've We try to catch it when we can't because this funny mountain of
1:08:27 I'm gonna go to the top of the mountain. Uh, cause it makes you sound like a moron but... We got another comment from a different guy who's I don't know if he's linguistics or what but he said the same exact thing So this is being taught someplace that this is a progression That somehow dropping the T. This we were told this Over two years ago when first cut when what's-her-name Wheeler, whatever name was quit It wasn't wheelers at other guys with the RT show. Yeah, I think it was weird. Oh, yeah And it was, oh no you're just making fun of something that's ongoing. It's ongoing people are all gonna be dropping the Ts in the future there is something being taught in the universities and I believe that dropping the T is actually code. It's like this unbeknownst code. You are putting yourself into a position, your categorizing yourself
1:09:24 Well, what's interesting is that why is it like we had in the last show? Why is somebody that's a vocal coach dropping her T's. What kind of vocal coach is this? And that's what he was responding to here on Thursday show you played a clip of a voice coach and were concerned because they were not speaking properly You are probably thinking of a speech therapist as a voice coach generally helps people with the quality of their voice Not the content Well, here's what I would like to say. Wait a minute... He said, I think it might be good to stop and ask why something sounds weird and if it is actually annoying for dialects slash pragmatic reasons. Examples repetitive um's hedging etc yeah we harp on that all the time in fact we're the hardest on ourselves about speech about stupid things we say but or smacking our lips or saying so exactly no yes
1:10:22 But here's the thing. Why is it okay and does he not even make mention? And again, I have no problem with the guy. I'm happy he's a producer and he's hitting people in the mouth This is why you're saying I'm having trouble because people are pushing back They hear how you make fun of them obviously and then they don't want to listen anymore but he's saying it's not incorrect speech and its speech changes and language changes but are we not allowed to push back I mean, if changes are afoot and if things happen and language of course changes. It's documented all the time but that doesn't mean you have to go okay! I accept the way you say it why can't we just push back? No, I say it this way Why is it always someone else who's changing it that has to be right
1:11:13 Anyway, agree what why is someone changing it like saying important? That's an important Martin What why are we supposed to oh okay well We're gonna start saying it that way too so he can sound really stupid You know. It's like I got over the axe thing and that's mainly because of Moe You know, Mo says X. I want to ask you... We had the definitive clip on this where it's actually... It's correct! During Dickens era or Chaucer, right? I think it was Chaucer. It was okay to use that term that usage That doesn't mean you have to like it No but I'm over it and if my friend wants Well I don't care one way or the other
1:12:02 But if somebody on television, this is where that comes from. When Yamiche Alcindor who's on network PBS News Hour a plum job that many of black person would love to have when she says acts like a woman. instead of ask, unless she's a Chaucerian and some sort of a student of the language I take offense to it. And you should be able to and you should me able to make fun of it but that's not allowed anyway from all this and from my exchange with the professor and again I'm not angry I just disagree and I'm surprised that this is his thinking because that's what he's been taught am I really surprised? No! But I came to a realization