of men shouting “Iron my shirt!” at a Hillary Clinton rally) were rarely
covered in any depth.
14 Purnell, Raimy and Salmons conducted an extensive study of Palin’s
speech; among other avenues of inquiry, they examined historical
settlement patterns and how movement of ethnic groups contributed to
Wasillian English. They examined the way certain phonetic features
contribute to the national perception of Palin’s English as Upper
Midwestern.
15 These and similar subjects became hot topics for discussion online.
For example, see http://xrl.in/4xcm where blogger Sisyphusshrugged
presents evidence of what he has called Palin’s Intermittent Gunderson
Syndrome. The term is a reference in a character in the movie Fargo.
Marge Gunderson is a Minnesotan with strong regional language
features; the intermittent syndrome is a reference to the fact that Sarah
Palin allegedly slips in and out of this accent in a way that is
inauthentic. See also this post: http://xrl.in/4xdn from Shots in the
Dark which explains very clearly how the author connects certain
language uses with intelligence, or lack of intelligence, in the case of
Sarah Palin.
16 The word “nuclear” became a focus of debate among linguists as well
as media commentators. Nunberg provides an objective look at the
debate, the variable pronunciation, and the social significance of the
word. (“Going nucular: Language, politics, and culture in
confrontational times,” Nunberg 2006.)
17 In addition to Lim’s work on anti-intellectualism discussed briefly in
this chapter, there is a great deal of work on the complex links between
ideology, rhetoric and anti-intellectualism that began with the 1963
publication of Hofstadter’s Anti-intellectualism in American Life. See
also Gonzalez (2009), Brooks (2008), Savage (2008) and Gitlin (2000).
18 I must point out that this statement, blunt and uncompromising as it
may be, can be adapted to discussion of any group. “Beware religious
conservatives ...”
19 Westmoreland issued this statement on September 8, 2008: “I’ve never
heard that term [uppity] used in a racially derogatory sense. It is
important to note that the dictionary definition of ‘uppity’ is ‘affecting
an air of inflated self-esteem – snobbish.’ That’s what we meant by
uppity when we used it in the mill village where I grew up.”
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