Rudds use of Colloquial Language: Is this the right track? (1 Viewer)

[Uncle]

fair shake of the sauce bottle.
sounds kinda gay.

 

[spiny norman]

He is easilly more popular than any politician except Hawke and Menzies, neither of which lost an election in their political careers

Menzies? I wouldn't have thought Menzies more popular than Curtin or Chifley - where'd you get the numbers for that? Also, he lost to Chifley in 1946 - Barton, Hughes, Lyons and Hawke are the only four men to have never lost a federal election. And I wouldn't really rate any of them as being amongst our best.

Anyway, I don't believe Rudd's talking like this because the polls are saying he should. "Fair shake of the bottle", "I've got to zip" etc. These aren't phrases that are common to the popular lexicon - they're just common to Kevin. Howard, Keating, Hawke, Fraser and Whitlam all had their own distinctive ways of speaking; that people are so cynical over Rudd having his own distinctive voice shows just how downright petty those opposed to him are willing to be in criticising every single aspect of his being.

 

[Lentern]

Menzies? I wouldn't have thought Menzies more popular than Curtin or Chifley - where'd you get the numbers for that? Also, he lost to Chifley in 1946 - Barton, Hughes, Lyons and Hawke are the only four men to have never lost a federal election. And I wouldn't really rate any of them as being amongst our best.

Anyway, I don't believe Rudd's talking like this because the polls are saying he should. "Fair shake of the bottle", "I've got to zip" etc. These aren't phrases that are common to the popular lexicon - they're just common to Kevin. Howard, Keating, Hawke, Fraser and Whitlam all had their own distinctive ways of speaking; that people are so cynical over Rudd having his own distinctive voice shows just how downright petty those opposed to him are willing to be in criticising every single aspect of his being.

Ok take Menzies off the list I really just whacked him on to appease Iron. we'll say something much more conservative like "rivalled only by Hawke in the past 50 years" And I didn't think Menzies lost the election I thought independants crossed the floor and he lost a no confidence motion. But like I said take Menzies off I'm fine with that my point was simply that Rudd is very popular and that doesn't fit in with the "everyone thinks he's a phoney" line.

 

[Iron]

Iron smiles favourably upon those who seek to please him.
Iron sends a sweet wind to aid Lentern in his odyssey

 

[blue_chameleon]

Thought bubble about the paradox of Kevin's phoniness and why he's so popular. Most of the phony things he said have been rhetoric, so what if...

...You get some people who just love language and in particular love talking in expressions. Peter Roebuck the ABC cricket journalist is one who just loves playing around with cliches and puns etc. Paul Livingstone is another. These people tend to pick up new ones and for a few weeks afterwards they like to play with it a fair bit like a kid who gets a new video but only uses it in moderation after it turns a month old. Kevin is just one of those wordsmiths.

So Kevin isn't being phoney or anything, he's just picked up a new phrase and is having fun with it. Like "there's no silver bullet" its just something enjoys saying at the moment. In a month Kevin will get bored and start sayig "I see you've played knifey spoony before."...

End of thoughtbubble.

Good thought in theory...

...but Roebuck and Livingstone are journalists. They work for the media. Rudd is Kevin07, works for the nation.

Look, I completely understand and accept the whole notion that he is extending and adjusting his vocabulary to suit his audience. He's just not pulling off a convincing performance, compared to the perceived comfort that Roebuck has in using colloquial language.

Really stems from him being a diplomat, rather than the hearty local MP.

 

[SAVAK]

it feels so fake when you watch the clip. It was very cringe worthy.

 

[SylviaB]

Typical labour "appeal to the working class" rubbish.

 

[Lentern]

Typical labour "appeal to the working class" rubbish.

Working families you twat.

 

[SAVAK]

who the fuck speaks like that anyway? seriously.

 

[whatashotbyseve]

Roebuck comfortable in language? Perhaps, but he, unlike Rudd, is middle-class aspirant aiming to be upper-class, a la Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances. He creates a charade to be something that he isn't, but he doesn't hide away from it. I find Roebuck boring compared to say Glenn Mitchell, who has an excellent economy of words.

 

[blue_chameleon]

Roebuck comfortable in language? Perhaps, but he, unlike Rudd, is middle-class aspirant aiming to be upper-class, a la Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances. He creates a charade to be something that he isn't, but he doesn't hide away from it. I find Roebuck boring compared to say Glenn Mitchell, who has an excellent economy of words.

Journalists are journalists. That's not the point here. The point is how convincing they are, and why they are doing it.

Unlike the PM, there's no real harm in not understanding a journalists true identity. If we are confused, we don't read their columns/articles.

Costello has commented that he's confused, the nations confused, Rudd's confused. We'll see how this goes from here and whether there's a concerted effort by the opposition to play on with it.

I wonder if asked, how the PM would respond to confusion over his identity. He laughed it off, which to me doesn't seem convincing that he himself knows or is willing to tell the public? :/

 

[Lentern]

Roebuck comfortable in language? Perhaps, but he, unlike Rudd, is middle-class aspirant aiming to be upper-class, a la Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances. He creates a charade to be something that he isn't, but he doesn't hide away from it. I find Roebuck boring compared to say Glenn Mitchell, who has an excellent economy of words.

Are you serious? Roebuck is like listening to music he was talking about calculting wind speed once and managed to make it sound interesting. I'm a fan of Glenn Mithcell as well but in terms of communication skills Roeby reigns supreme.

 

[Lentern]

Journalists are journalists. That's not the point here. The point is how convincing they are, and why they are doing it.

Unlike the PM, there's no real harm in not understanding a journalists true identity. If we are confused, we don't read their columns/articles.

Costello has commented that he's confused, the nations confused, Rudd's confused. We'll see how this goes from here and whether there's a concerted effort by the opposition to play on with it.

I wonder if asked, how the PM would respond to confusion over his identity. He laughed it off, which to me doesn't seem convincing that he himself knows or is willing to tell the public? :/

I would laugh it off as well, anyone who really has a problem with it has some serious hateful obsession with the prime minister and probably has a problem with the ties he wears, the way he walks and that he wears glassess not contacts.

 

[whatashotbyseve]

In isolation its probably nothing of interest, but he has a few political quirks which add up to insecurity and the pathological need to appease everyone.

 

[Lentern]

In isolation its probably nothing of interest, but he has a few political quirks which add up to insecurity and the pathological need to appease everyone.

I can accept people not liking Rudd, I can accept people thinking he is insincere and that he is incompetent. But to say that product is shit because of the gift wrapping is just painting the word "hack" on yourself.

 

[blue_chameleon]

I would laugh it off as well, anyone who really has a problem with it has some serious hateful obsession with the prime minister and probably has a problem with the ties he wears, the way he walks and that he wears glassess not contacts.

Hold on Lentern, I don't think anyone here has a hateful obsession with Rudd's performance. Maybe i'm wrong though and there are some out there. But I can't see any comments in this thread made that prove to me they are obvious anti-rudd hacks.

The reason I created the thread on this issue, is that I thought it was interesting that Rudd was taking this approach. Rudd has been playing this for quite a while, that's no surprise. I see his motive, but question whether this approach will hit the target.

When you're the PM, everything you do is scrutinised. That's comes with the territory. This is no different, and people are starting to raise questions about it. Especially when your background is in diplomacy and your image is transforming post-election.

 

[aussie-boy]

I would prefer Rudd to remain the intellectually superior, nerdy, intelligent politician - who is comfortable with advanced concepts in all areas of running the country, especially in economics and foreign policy.

He should leave the colloquialisms to the premiers, who need to be bogan enough to deal with bus drivers, public housing tenants and building stuff, and who (desperately) need to move away from any refined bureaucratic intellect that stops stuff happening

 

[Lentern]

Hold on Lentern, I don't think anyone here has a hateful obsession with Rudd's performance. Maybe i'm wrong though and there are some out there. But I can't see any comments in this thread made that prove to me they are obvious anti-rudd hacks.

The reason I created the thread on this issue, is that I thought it was interesting that Rudd was taking this approach. Rudd has been playing this for quite a while, that's no surprise. I see his motive, but question whether this approach will hit the target.

When you're the PM, everything you do is scrutinised. That's comes with the territory. This is no different, and people are starting to raise questions about it. Especially when your background is in diplomacy and your image is transforming post-election.

Yes I've got no problem with you finding it interesitng that Rudd talks funny but to then start singing "the nation is in real trouble when they have a prime minister they can't take at face value" tune, which is what your little Costello excerpt was getting at then it's just getting absurd. You can think he's a wanker for doing it but when people start talking as if it will affect the state of affairs in Australia they are being silly.

 

[x.christina]

tbh no-body really uses that language much anymore these days. When K-Rudd uses it, its a bit try-hardish

 

[blue_chameleon]

Yes I've got no problem with you finding it interesitng that Rudd talks funny but to then start singing "the nation is in real trouble when they have a prime minister they can't take at face value" tune, which is what your little Costello excerpt was getting at then it's just getting absurd. You can think he's a wanker for doing it but when people start talking as if it will affect the state of affairs in Australia they are being silly.

Well, lucky for me then that I never said that "the nation is in real trouble..." but I did include the short Costello news excerpt, because afaik, this is the first that the opposition have really said anything about it in the media. I also mentioned after the link that it would be interesting to see whether the opposition will take anything more from this.

Now, obviously if they don't, then there's good reason to say that this is a non-issue in parliament. This is what I was focusing on, not attacking Rudd over his flaws and decending into hackery.

I've observed public comment on this, and the majority of comments were exactly like the one above me; that he's trying too hard and he isn't fooling many people. However, i'm just getting this from news comments, so probably not too reliable.

As far as i'm concerned, there's no singing being done. The fact that the opposition haven't said much about this probably shows that in the short-term, this whole thing is drying up, the wheels are slowing down and it's being laid to rest. But voters wont forget his attempts, especially when he uses terms that many of us have never used and never heard of.