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John McWhorter found Sarah Palin childish for using the "distancing" word "tha," so what would he have to say about Abraham Lincoln?

Yesterday, we were talking about the way the linguist John McWhorter analyzed Sarah Palin's speech. He found her childish for using the word "that" in phrases like "forge that peace," because it was a "distancing gesture," as if the peace were "way over there" and not something she's genuinely involved with. He wrote:

That peace? You mean that peace way over there ? as opposed to the peace that you as Vice-President would have been responsible for forging? She?s far, far away from that peace.

Now, check out the Gettyburg Address, with added boldface:

... Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 

You mean that nation way over there ? as opposed to the nation you're supposed to be President of.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war.

That war?!!! It's your war, Mr. President. Come down out of the clouds you fluffy-headed fool and join the reality that you have a helluva lot to do with... or perhaps you haven't noticed!

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field....

That field! You are here on this field, where so many have died. Wake up from your crazy dream world, man!

... as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. 

That nation?!!! It's our nation, Mr. President. Not some nation way over there! How did this dangerous child of a man become President?!

Full post as published by Althouse on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).