Just checking out David Frum's latest project:

Listening to Obama, I often think of the nervous comment of Michael Banks when he meets Disney’s Mary Poppins for the first time. “We better keep an eye on this one. She’s tricky.”

Oh, indeed, touché. One of the things I retained from seeing the movie as a child was the potential usefulness of the rich Disney dialogue for future quips about politicians and such. Cartoons and children's movies are generally a goldmine when it comes to formulating some insightful commentary. Lines from “The Gnomemobile” and “That Darn Cat” pretty much inform my world.

His main point is that Mr Obama's speech was tricky and ambiguous, because when he says “the market”, he might very well mean “the whole private economy”.

Can you see how someone might make that mistake? Because I can.

Sometimes people say, “Would you care for a coffee while you're waiting?”, and I understand them to say, “Would you care for all the caffeine products in the universe while you're waiting?” There's a fine difference.

Labels: Dialogue Problems