Bush Shows Ass As "British Society" Poster Boy

International Idiot Crisis. While not an entirely political issue I feel comfortable bringing it to you as the organization involved - The Plain English Campaign does mention that politicians are part of the problem, which as they see it is the seeming assumption of minimal intelligence by the public, as well as redundancy, the very currency of political speaking.

While reading the examples the Campaign mentions I was struck that if they had not heard worse they must be on a rocky Craig in the Atlantic, and that Bush-Speak would give them the vapors. Further reading revealed that they are indeed located in England. A spokesman for The Plain English Campaign stated “They assume a lack of intelligence on the part of the reader. ‘Do not commit crime, pay for your fuel’ is hardly a deterrent to a criminal who has every intention of driving off without paying.”

I believe we Yanks could come up with much more inane examples! Perhaps if you are sitting up, taking nutrition and feeling up to it you might want to add a personal favorite or two. The winner gets two million dollars from Rackjite!  (Top THAT Orpha!)

A sampling of the British complaints follows:

On a bag of NUTS, the dire tip-off, “Warning: Contains nuts.”

“May irritate eyes” – on a can of self defense pepper spray.

“Removing the wheel may influence the performance of the bicycle” - from a Dutch bicycle manual.

“ Do not iron clothes on body” – from packaging on a steam iron.

Supermarket Tesco – which also reminds shoppers that cream contains milk and that salted butter contains milk and salt” defended itself, saying it “gave customers all of the information they should need.”

“Do not open door while airborne except in an emergency” – on emergency exit doors on planes.

Road sign – “Caution! Water on road during rain.”

Another vital warning, “Caution, may cause drowsiness!” – on bottle of sleeping tablets.

The political rhetoric pales by comparison between our countries. For example “The Campaign” feels insulted when such phrases are used and re-used such as “We are taking the terrorist threat very seriously.”

Let’s compare, shall we? On CBS News with Katie Couric, Bush stated, “You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." Yes, there ARE much worse things than vapid redundancy!   Click here for rest of story