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SALT LAKE CITY — Romney may be the pride of conservatives everywhere, but even the aides listen to some of his word choices and think he's not so hip.
In fact, the New York Times cornered three of Romney's aides and asked them what they thought. "Old timey," "his 1950s language" and "the Gomer Pyle routine," are just some of the ways they described his anachronistic verbiage.
What words does he tend to use? Some seem to replace cusses. "Golly," "gosh," "darn," flippin," "to heck with it," and "H-E-double hockey sticks" are common.
If you watched the Charlie Brown cartoons from the 60s that still get replayed, Mitt will say "good grief" from time to time.
Even when he gets rolling in a public appearance, he'll still sometimes use a word in the middle of a sentence that sounds a tad off. Case in point is a Univision appearance from September.
Guffaw………Laugh
Big House……Jail
Brickbats………Insults Other words and phrases: Golly, gosh, darn, flippin, scared the dickens out of, H E double hockey sticks, to heck with it, thank heavens, good grief, crap, grunt (as in literally saying grunt), if you will.
"How are we going to lead the world as a nation ... If our kids coming out of high school are scoring in the bottom quartile."
Some might use the less robotic term "quarter," or "bottom 25 percent."
As quaint and old school as the word choices frequently are, it doesn't seem to be having a negative effect on voters. One interviewed by the Times says "It's a wonderful change. "He's a gentleman," they said. And comedian Dennis Miller has said after four years of having a "hipster president," Americans crave a "gosh president."
Romney himself, when interviewed by the paper, seemed perplexed as to why everybody was so fascinated with the way he talks. He said it's like someone who speaks with an accent - you don't really hear it when it's your own.
