I’m just finishing the last bit of the Presidential debate from Tuesday night. Thank God for digital recorders. You know my views on Obama and McCain; that’s not the point of this post. I would just like to change one teeny, tiny thing about Obama: his pronunciation of the words Pakistan and Taliban.
I first noticed it in the first debate and did remark to my husband that it was a bit strange. He says ‘Pahk-i-stahn’ rather than ‘Pack-i-stan’ and ‘Tahli-bahn’ rather than ‘Tol-i-ban’ or ‘Tal-i-ban’. I can’t figure out what he’s trying to do. The Pakistan pronunciation would seem to be taking on a slightly British tone. Saying France as ‘Frahnce’ or dance as ‘dahnce’: the elongated a. The Taliban, too, seems to be slightly British. The only problem with this is that most English don’t even sound like that. They do elongate the a in Pakistan slightly but not to the extent Obama does. It’s hard to explain this in written form, obviously.
I’m not saying here what the correct pronunciation is; I’m just saying he sounds a bit strange. Unfortunately, whatever he is doing it just comes off as sounding ever so pretentious; like I used to when I tried to do a British accent. I think he means well, but I also think he has a load of advisors around him; surely one of them knows something about Pakistan and can correct his pronunciation. That’s just my little, ever so small quibble with Obama.