# Subliminable?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 13, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025 "2000-09-13T15:05:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/21 "2000-09-13T17:31:49Z")
If oral sex isn’t sex, and lying under oath isn’t perjury, why can’t ‘subliminable’ be ‘subliminal’? And where does NPR get off criticizing someone’s speech patterns? Listen to their newscasts. They can’t get thru two days without at least one blunder. Bush gives a dozen speeches a day. The only kind of person who could speak that much and not make a mispronunciation is an over-programmed robot with no ideas of his own to distract him. Wait a second, who could that be describing… Some one asked where the hostility is coming from. It’s coming from the media, and it’s based on the fact that Bush is even with Gore in the polls. Therefore, they focus on whatever trivialities they can find to prevent discussion of the issues. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/22 "2000-09-13T17:37:49Z")
\*\*Bush Campaign Denies Candidate Is Dyslexic \*\* ``` PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - George W. Bush's campaign dismissed a report that the Republican presidential nominee may be dyslexic, calling it ``fiction stranger than truth.'' An article in the magazine Vanity Fair by best-selling author Gail Sheehy, who frequently writes psychological portraits of politicians, concluded that the Texas governor's often-mocked malapropisms on the campaign trail could stem from dyslexia, a language-based disability in which the sufferer has trouble processing words or sentences. Among the slips that Sheehy cites as possibly caused by the disability are: ``Reading is the basics for all learning,'' ``Put food on your family,'' and ``The senator cannot have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road.'' ``` from [http://www.jokes.com/hnn/09\_12\_2000.reodd-story-bcoddbushdc.html](http://www.jokes.com/hnn/09_12_2000.reodd-story-bcoddbushdc.html) Heh, heh. “Fiction stranger than truth.” Wonder if Dubya crafted that response himself? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/23 "2000-09-13T17:41:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > **. . . And where does NPR get off criticizing someone’s speech patterns? . . .** Geez, where the hostility coming from? Cool it, dude: read the damn thread. NPR never made any reference, of any kind, to the pronunciation. They reported on the flak, including a side report suggesting that A) subliminnablblblblllbbbbpht advertising is utter nonsense, and B) that Bush’s people are very unlikely to have attempted it. In other words, their coverage was admirably objective, and left me with the opinion that the flak was laughable. In the course of their report, they played a recording of Dubya speaking about the “issue.” The OP is the one who made a reference to the mispronunciation, not NPR. ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/24 "2000-09-13T17:46:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > Oh, please: sublimnblbnlbnlnblblbl is not a Texas accent–I was born and raised in Dallas. With all due respect, and the TV show not-with-standing, I’ve never met anyone from Dallas (or Houston) with a real Texas accent. The big Railroad towns have always had such an influx of northerners that people there talk just like Dan Rather as best I can tell. You need to get out to places like Midland (at least a six hour drive from Dallas – almost as far as Boston is from Montreal) where Bush grew up to get the full flavor. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/25 "2000-09-13T18:06:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jmullaney \* > **. . . With all due respect . . . I’ve never met anyone from Dallas (or Houston) with a real Texas accent. . . .** With all _due_ respect, I never said I _had_ a Texas accent. But I certainly know one when I hear one: most of my teachers growing up had Texas accents, many of the people I knew were not first-generation transplants, and despite your implication to the contrary, I did occasionally come up out of the basement (this is Texas joke: there _are_ not basements in Texas\*) and even, yes, ventured outside of Dallas. I emphatically maintain that sublimnblbnlbnlnblblbl is in no way, shape, or form a Texas accent. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/26 "2000-09-13T18:09:40Z")
[sup]\*PLEASE don’t someone who lives in Texas over a basement post a reply to this insisting that there are exceptions to this. Get a sense of humor.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/27 "2000-09-13T18:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > I emphatically maintain that sublimnblbnlbnlnblblbl is in no way, shape, or form a Texas accent. I maintain that the conflagrination… er… I mean combining or misuse of end modifiers (such as able) of multisyllable words, especially those of latin origified words, er… I mean, well, whatever the heck I’m trying to say, that action is of peculiarism to Texas, perhaps mostly South and West Texas among gringoes, especially men. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Thing\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_1)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/28 "2000-09-13T18:40:53Z")
For the record, I do not think lissener is an idiot. That said: “Um, he meant a second B and you know it (at least if you bothered to read all the posts in context)” ArchiveGuy, I know what he meant as well as what he said. I was simply trying to point out that labeling someone an idiot because of a simple mistake is not justified. After all, I am sure lissener knew what George meant as well. I do not know if George Busch is an idiot or not, but I am not willing to say he is based on this error. John ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/29 "2000-09-13T18:42:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Among the slips that Sheehy cites as possibly caused by the disability are: `Reading is the basics for all learning,'' `Put food on your family,’’ and ``The senator cannot have it both ways. He can’t take the high horse and then claim the low road.’’ Wha-hoo, violent flashback time! All I can say is that whatever psycholinguistic issues the Shrub has got, they are definitely hereditary, because his daddy used to sound just like that. Anybody remember famous bumbles such as “We have had sex” (he was trying to say “setbacks”) or (in response to a question about an opponent’s comparative manhood) “I’ll put mine up against his any day” or “Don’t cry for me, Argentina. Message: I care”, or what Molly Ivins used to call his “verbless mode”? Ivins and Calvin Trillin basically agreed that Bush Sr. just had a tin ear for language and a really bad speaking style. (The latter was probably a tragic result of trying to make him open his mouth when he spoke in public. New England preppies just can’t do that, you know: extra bones in the jaw region, or something. ;)) Interestingly enough, btw, I never heard that that was the case with his own daddy, Sen. Prescott Bush. But whatever it is, the Shrub seems to have inherited it, so I’m going to start paying closer attention to his speeches (the debates in particular ought to be really good) in the hope of picking up more gems. Nothin’ but good times ahead! ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/30 "2000-09-13T18:43:33Z")
Well, if he has dyslexia, then I’m a little more inclined to cut him some slack. But if he does, then turning loose the deniers strikes me as less than intelligent. Which brings us full circle back to “Shrub is an idiot.” The lead story [here](http://www.bushoncrack.com/) gives a rather amusing take on it. Waste ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/31 "2000-09-13T18:47:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mipsman \* > \*\*He is going down, for this and other perceived moronacies. Maybe if you Country Club Republicans start apologizing right now, McCain will forgive you and take it 2004. \*\* I just have to wind back the clock a few turns to say that **mipsman** seems to have nailed the situation pertty well. Another couple of weeks and all of the Bushlet apologists, including the ones who are members here, will be getting awfully tired of saying “He’s NOT an idiot, he just can’t pronounce words in English!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, some evil video designer put the word ‘RATS’ in there as a joke!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, he just likes to depend on advisors who worked for his Dad, that’s all!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, he just didn’t understand that the microphone was live!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, he probably COULD have gotten into Andover and Yale and Harvard Business School without banking on his name, and I’ll bet all those rich Texans would have loaned him money, too!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, Cheney will make a FINE Vice President!” and “He’s NOT an idiot, doctors say that occasional recreational use of cocaine is actually good for the heart!” and they’ll just throw up their hands and start working on electing McCain in four years. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/32 "2000-09-13T18:49:46Z")
Man, somebody had better tell this poor guy that he’s not dancing in Shinola. And hand him a pocket dictionary: ‘’‘One frame out of 900 hardly in my judgment makes a conspiracy,’’’ [GWB, in response to one of the many questions about the **subliminal** message.] from [Boston Globe](http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/257/nation/Aides_use_humor_to_counter_ad_flap+.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/33 "2000-09-13T18:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jmullaney \* > \*\*. . . I maintain that the conflagrination… > > er… > > I mean combining or misuse of end modifiers (such as able) of multisyllable words, especially those of latin origified words, er… > > I mean, well, whatever the heck I’m trying to say, that action is of peculiarism to Texas, perhaps mostly South and West Texas among gringoes, especially men. > > Really. \*\* You’re talking about a practice I like to call _obfuscatory sesquipedalianism,_ also known variously as _sciolism_ and _talking out of your ass._ And I must protestatiously insistificate that it is pernisculous stereotypicatiosity to implicationalize that it’s speficicatious to Southern White Men. In any case it’s not relevant here, where the issue at hand is simple _illiteracy_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/34 "2000-09-13T19:05:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zumba The Cat \* > **. . . I said that he said he took “initiative in creating the internet”. . . .** Read your own fucking post: you used the word _inventing_, which Gore never has, and is at the root of this urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/35 "2000-09-13T19:07:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gaudere \* > [B[Moderator Hat ON] > > That’s inappropriate for this forum, lissener. Please post insults in The BBQ Pit only. > > [Moderator Hat OFF] \*\* Sorry; noted. ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/36 "2000-09-13T19:09:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > In any case it’s not relevant here, where the issue at hand is simple _illiteracy_. If it is simply the result of an accent it says nothing in regards to illiteracy. You might even chalk this up to _over literacy_, since **subliminable** is the conflation of **sublimable** and **subliminal**. ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/37 "2000-09-13T19:14:53Z")
(and you should probably sit down and watch **King of the Hill** some day. That guy who mumbles everything he says is only an exagerated parody of the Texan accent I am talking about) ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/38 "2000-09-13T19:22:55Z")
j, when you combine improper pronunciation of a word with apparent ignorance about what a subliminal message actually _is_, I for one start to get a little nervous about the man’s literacy. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/39 "2000-09-13T19:25:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jmullaney \* > **. . . subliminable** is the conflation of **sublimable** and **subliminal**. \*\* Puh-_leeze._ :rolleyes: If George Dubblblblblblblyou Bush has the word [_sublimable_ in his vocabulary–if it’s ever been in anything he’s ever even read–I’ll eat his fokking saddle. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025/40 "2000-09-13T19:29:51Z")
Well, **Uke** , last I heard, McCain was pretty adamantly saying that he had his shot, and lost. Therefore, he would never again entertain thoughts of the presidency. So they might have to look elsewhere. Myself, I’m waiting for a bi-partisan ticket with the retired senator from Georgia and either Shrub or Jeb. Nunn Bush in 2004! Waste [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subliminable/33025.md?page=3)