Gubernator Gaffe – Or Goody?
Posted by Dave Bath on 2009-10-29
A veto note from the Gubernator,
replete with a profanity
not immediately obvious,
intentional or highly coincidental?
Enjoy the links below.
- "Schwarzenegger to foe: (Veto) you" (SwampPolitics – 2009-10-28)
- "Did Schwarzenegger drop 4-letter bomb in veto?" and a good image of the letter for the impatient (San Francisco Chronicle 2008-10-28)
- "Schwarzenegger offers CA legislature crytic F-you" (Business Pundit 2009-10-28)
- "The Gubernator’s acrostic mischief" (Language Log 2009-10-28) – also with a lovely acrostic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for comparison
- "Schwarnenegger’s veto message delivers another message" (Wall Street Journal 2009-10-27)
- no… not joking or a hoax…. you can see a copy of the letter as a pdf from the official California governor’s site gov.ca.gov.
The first words of each line in the three paragraphs?
- I
- For… unnecessary… care… kick…
- Yet… overwhelmingly… unnecessary
And the Gubernator’s spokesperson on this?
"My goodness. What a coincidence. I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen.”
To me, the "kick the can" is unusual enough to indicate intent… but I’d not call it malice.
…especially as Arnie has had other (less pointed) acrostics in messages to his legislature, and has pulled some other pranks (see the WSJ article) such as sending a sculture of bull’s testicles to California’s Senate leader.
So… anybody thinking about being mischevious next time you write a note to your local member or a senate committee? I know I am!
