I saw an article with the headline “Clinton pledges better Haiti aid” and my first thought was that they were talking about the Secretary of State. But it was actually the former President who was speaking about the relief effort. If you see the name Clinton in a headline, who do you think of first?
Don’t bother posting if you’re just going to make a joke or use this opportunity to say you hate both of them. I’m just trying to see which one is currently more prominent.
In the context of your quote, I assumed the SoS. I don’t think I can say I think of one or the other first any longer. It requires context.
A couple years ago I would have assumed Bill, but from the primaries on I’ve thought it was Hillary unless shown otherwise.
Unless the context leaves no room for ambiguity, my first thought is still Bill.
Her, unless it says “BILL Clinton”. She’s occupying a position, he isn’t. I don’t expect him to be in the news, whereas she’s a newsmaker.
That’s precisely my reason, but I go backwards. Mrs. Clinton is more likely to be doing normal stuff, so I’m going to think anything newsworthy is going to be by Bill.
But that’s probably because the news I read is either my local newspaper, or referred to me from here. I don’t read the type of papers that mention the Secretary of State often.
Maybe, but Bill’s been fairly active in international relations type work lately. He went to N. Korea to try and get those two reporters freed, turns up at a fair number of internationl meetings and the like and now has been raising money for Haiti relief, so it’s pretty easy to read stories about international events and not be sure who “Clinton” is.
Last week I read a story about Haiti and it took most of the article before I figured out which one they were talking about. Most news organizations are supposed to use the persons title when their name first appears in an article, but apparently they all don’t.
I was trying to go with a headline that was context free. I even thought of making one up like “Clinton to attend opening ceremony at Vancouver” but decided to stick with the real headline that prompted this.
Would the person who voted for “someone else” tell us who this other Clinton is?
George Clinton brings the funk to Haiti.
This, for this reason.
This.
The first person I actually think of is Bill, but after a moment’s thought I switch to Hillary, since she’s still a newsmaker and he isn’t really. So absent any other context, my thought processes will settle on Hillary, so I thought it was more honest to answer her.
I think of Bill Clinton for precisely the same reason. Besides, he has been on TV recently, along with former President George W. Bush, asking for aid for the Haitian earthquake relief effort. Similarly, he and the previous President Bush did a PSA asking for help for the tsunami victims in 2004.
I was going post that you need to use a first name in your thread titles so I don’t have to open the thread to know who it’s about. I didn’t assume it was either one of the adults that used to reside in the White House.
Bill, 'cause he was famous first. Then I think “Oh, wait, Hillary’s more likely now.” Then context kicks in, and maybe I’ll switch back to Bill, or maybe not.