So, what do you have against “pretty”?
Um, that was awful. I, too, feel sorry for that poor girl, although I laughed. She must have been (a) really nervous or (b) really stupid, or possibly both…
God knows I have said some really stupid things when there’s been a microphone in my face, but luckily the audience was small in all cases.
FWIW, in college I roomed for awhile with a reigning Miss Somestate. She had worked very hard on the “poise” section because it counted for a lot, and poise means, essentially, keeping your brain running while your mouth is, even if you’re nervous. (She became a doctor, and is now retired.)
If this girl shows up for whatever the next phase of the competition is, though, she’s got some poise, too. (Bonus points if she shows up without bandages on her wrists.)
What? Also, what the hell?!?
That was real cringe stuff.
What did they expect her to say anyway. What an obtuse fact to throw to anybody. And a 5th of what cross section of our population. A rather poorly conceived question if you ask me. If someone told me a 5th of our adult population with an IQ higher than 90 at 18+ years of age couldn’t target the very country in which they lived on a map, I’d first be highly dubious (as I am now). Then from there, you just tear of the standard, canned response about how geography education in urban areas are in dire straights and you’ll campaign for a globe in every household by 2012 or some shit, if in fact your fucking statistic isn’t completely bogus to begin with, 'cuz if it turns out to be wrong, no globes!.. next question…
I’d make an awesome Mr. Michigan, why no pageants for us doods?
I was SO going to make this joke, but thought I’d better read the whole thread first, just in case…
Lack of rack.
My roommate was in something like three state competitions before she got into The Big One. Apparently she gave some real doofus-type answers in her first one, even though she was actually quite smart. And in favor of world peace.
At that time (long, long ago) in the local & state pageants they won or lost based on swimsuit, evening gown & talent. They only asked the question because it would count for more in the national competition, to get the contestants used to answering off the cuff. More of them than not sounded like complete idiots anyway; my point is that they weren’t, necessarily.
Ah, I see.
That does make it seem like we’re being overly harsh about this girl. I can accept that, but still, we’re left with few options to the contrary given the video we saw.
The first sentence in LOUNE’s last reply comes to mind far too often. Really attractive girls have all the things that regular looking girls don’t have, but they have none of the the things normal girls have in other senses. Time has a way of equalizing things like this. Average looking girls in High School can get super hot, and Prom queens can watch their lives crash and burn.
The polarization factor can be a real bitch, but I guess that’s life.
When I was at high school, the poet Vernon Scannell came to read some of his works to the entire school. Just before he commenced, the headmaster pointed at me sitting in the assembly hall and said “you’re going to give the vote of thanks afterwards, OK?” Presumably he chose me because I had just won the school public speaking competition.
So the entire hour I was panicking about what I was going to say, because I couldn’t think of anything, and I’d forgotten Mr. Scannell’s name - and then when he’d finished, the head said “jjimm is now going to say a few words”.
Head swimming and a buzz of nerves, I stood up reluctantly in front of hundreds of my sniggering classmates and said something to the effect of “on behalf of the school… I’d like to thank… er… poetry is a… mm medium… I mean an art form… and these are… were… I mean… good. Umm, poems. Er, on behalf of the school I’dliketothankyouverymuchforcoming.” And sat down blushing in shame.
So it could have just be nerves that made Miss SC look so ditzy, as I’ve done similar myself. Mind you, I was only twelve.
Though what’s with Iraq being “thigh rack”? Is that a common pronunciation in South Carolina, or is she just thick as several very thick short planks?
She was saying, “th’ Iraq,” although that’s not really much improved over “thighrack.”
Oh yeah, I knew that - just my little pun - but I was actuallu wondering why the definite article was used. I know we say “The Congo” and “The Lebanon” - is it something like that, d’you reckon?
Exactly. She was clever enough to see that an answer amounting to “because they are stupid” wouldn’t be appreciated. So she tried to formulate a sentence in missworldese that insulted no-one, and vaguely resembled an answer instead. She didn’t do too bad of a job, considering there were a gazillion lights and camera’s aimed at her.
My answer would have been: “First, I doubt if that’s a true statistic. If I were stopped on the streets and asked to point out the USA on a map, I’d think it was a trick question andf refuse to answer. But if the statistic IS true, well, perhaps such knowledge isn’t necessary to the everyday life of many ordinary Americans, and they choose to remember other information instead that is more relevant to them?”
I don’t think she’s that pretty. She is, but she’s not stop-traffic. Not to me anyway.
I wonder if she was having a bad moment or if she got all the way to the top level of the pageant with answers like that. Makes me wonder how the other contestants speak under pressure.
To all of you saying “I’d hit that”, you realize that she might be as young as 15, right? It was Miss TEEN USA, after all.
Having said that, I watched it. At least, the TV was on, and tuned to that channel, but the sound was off. I unmuted it for that segment, though. I almost posted here about that very girl, but she filled my brain with so much stoopid that I couldn’t remember how to operate my computer.
Miss New Jersey gave such an intelligent response (to a much easier question, and in comparison to Miss SC – her answer might have been “I like boys!” or “Moe is their leader!”) that she went up a few points for me. I was almost able to forgive her for her Trilogy of Terror teeth.
She was the first runner up.
.
Cite
Makes me wonder how SC got to #26 here
I’m just so proud!
Disclaimer: Not sure about validity of the cite
I’m sure she’s not as stupid as she looked there IRL. I’ve panicked in front of a microphone myself when I had to improvise. The beef I have, is that she and all the other contestants in these sorts of competitions are so obviously coached and primped, that they’re trying to force in whatever they’ve been coached on as well as improvise something that makes sense and has something people can relate to. The whole thing, from top to bottom is as real as a WWE wrestling match.
I wish she’d looked right at the judges and said “I hope you realize that 95% of all statistics are made up on the spot. If I were presented with that information, I would ask for independent confirmation of those facts before I offered an opinion on them. Thank you.”
World Peace.
Ha. Reminds me of something I read just last night: